'Jenni's legacy': Father calls for change after daughter dies with anorexia
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Jennifer Michelle Matters died in May 2021, two years after she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. ( Supplied )
The father of a young woman who died with anorexia has called for improved eating disorder services in South Australia.
Jennifer Matters took her own life in 2021, two years after she was diagnosed with the disorder.
The state coroner recommended establishing an acute inpatient ward specifically set up for the treatment of patients with eating disorders.
The father of a young woman with anorexia nervosa has implored the South Australian government to adopt a coroner's recommendations for improved eating disorder services — to spare other families the same grief of losing a loved one.
Jennifer Matters, known as Jenni to her family, took her own life when she was aged 24 in 2021, two years after the "intelligent young woman" was diagnosed with the disorder.
In findings handed down today, State Coroner Naomi Kereru said after Ms Matters was diagnosed in 2019, the disorder "very quickly took over her life", and despite efforts to seek treatment "she encountered barriers to effective treatment which tragically proved insurmountable".
Outside court, Ms Matters's father Shaun said his daughter's death — and the resulting inquest findings — must lead to change.
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