A university breached multiple legal duties in the lead up to the death of a Nottingham student, a court has ruled. Natasha Abrahart's body was found in her private flat on the day she was due to give a presentation in a 329-seat lecture theatre at the University of Bristol where she studied back in April 2018.
The second-year physics student had been diagnosed with chronic Social Anxiety Disorder in February 2018. It was during that academic year that staff at the university became aware that she was experiencing anxiety and panic attacks in her oral assessments, having excelled in written assignments. In February 2018 a university employee received an email from Natasha’s account saying “I’ve been having suicidal thoughts and, to a certain degree, attempted it".
After her death, Natasha's parents, Robert and Margaret Abrahart - aged 66 and 60 and from West Bridgford - filed court documents challenging the University’s role in Natasha’s death - the trial was heard at Bristol Crown Court. After finding that Natasha’s suffering was “serious and, from what I have seen in the evidence, continuous”, the Judge ordered the University to pay damages of £50,518. This reflected the injury to Natasha’s feelings, the deterioration in her mental health caused by the University, and funeral costs.
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His Honour Judge Alex Ralton found that the University had breached its duties to make reasonable adjustments to the way it assessed Natasha, engaged in indirect disability discrimination against her and treated her unfavourably because of the consequences of her disability. Natasha was described by the judge as an "ambitious young woman troubled by sadness and insecurity".
Natasha's mum Margaret Abrahart said: "Today, it must again be emphasised, that we do not seek to blame any individual member of staff. It is clear that some of them have been deeply affected by Natasha’s death and obviously no member of staff wanted her to come to harm.
"We do however blame the University as an institution. We blame the University for not training its staff properly in its duties towards disabled students and on when they could and should share information internally about students who are at risk of suicide. We blame the University for maintaining a system, which was so inflexible, that it exposed our daughter to suffering which the judge described as 'serious and, from what I have seen in the evidence, continuous'.
"We blame the University for arguing that there was no 'legal or factual basis for intensive scrutiny' of its role in Natasha’s death at the inquest and for accusing us of pursuing 'spurious claims'. And we blame the University for the role it played in our daughter’s death."
She added: "We loved Natasha dearly. We will always love her. And it is heart-breaking that our exceptional daughter, who gave us so much joy, and had so much more to offer the world, was failed so badly and suffered such unnecessary torment."
Natasha was at least the tenth student at the University of Bristol to take their own life since October 2016. She was the older of two children and moved to Nottingham when she was four years old, after being born in Greater Manchester.
Robert Abrahart, a retired university lecturer, said: “Today, 1,481 days after Natasha took her own life on the day of an assessment she simply couldn’t do, after years of protestations from the University that it did all it could to support her, after having battled our way through an inquest and a civil trial, we finally have the truth The University of Bristol broke the law and exposed our daughter to months of wholly unnecessary psychological trauma, as she watched her grades plummet, and her hopes for the future crumble before her eyes.”
Notes apparently written by Natasha and found in her room after her death refer to her being afraid of talking to people, afraid of embarrassing herself, “saying the wrong thing/ panicking”, and being “afraid of interviews, networking [and] talking to people in a professional environment”.
The University of Bristol was not found to be negligent but was deemed to make insufficient adjustments in relation to Natasha's assessment. A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “Our whole university community has been deeply affected by Natasha’s tragic death and we would once again like to extend our sympathies to her friends and family.
“Like all universities, schools and colleges, we are deeply concerned by the increase of mental health issues amongst our young people nationally. We do our very best to support any student who is struggling with their mental health and have a wide range of services available.
“We believe staff in the School of Physics worked incredibly hard and diligently to support Natasha during her time with us, and it was due to their efforts that she was receiving specialist mental health support from the NHS. Our staff’s efforts also included offering alternative options for Natasha’s assessments to alleviate the anxiety she faced about presenting her laboratory findings to her peers. We are very grateful to them for their endeavours on Natasha’s behalf and for their unwavering commitment to our students.
“Alongside the support available, we have introduced an opt-in policy to alert a nominated contact when we have serious concerns about a student’s wellbeing and more robust procedures to assess students’ fitness to study. However, it is important that students receive appropriate specialist care under the NHS should they need it.
“We cannot replicate the NHS but are committed to working with the NHS and other partners to improve services and ensure we are collectively providing the best possible support for students.
“Given the significant impact this decision could have on how all higher education providers support their students, we are reviewing the decision carefully, including whether to appeal. In light of that review, it would not be appropriate to comment further on the judgment at the present time.”
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