A MAN whose wife committed suicide believes she was “failed” by mental health services.
David Lawrence, of Canons Drive in Edgware, will make his case to an inquest at North London Coroner’s Court on Monday.
His wife, Evelyn, hanged herself on March 3 after suffering with severe depression for many years.
She spoke to her GP and psychiatrists but Mr Lawrence said they did not see her at her worst when she was taken by regular episodes of anger and depression at home.
Mr Lawrence said her anger in these episodes was directed towards him and so her family saw him as the cause, but when she was lucid they were “incredibly close”.
The 72-year-old widower said: “We are in the dark ages when it comes to this condition, no one knows what to do about it and no one realised just how bad it was for Evelyn.
“She would get incredibly angry at me but when she was not having an episode we would both wish it could be this good all the time. We were very much in love when the clouds parted.”
Mrs Lawrence, who was 74 when she passed away, took her own life on the same day her family had arranged for a meeting with a solicitor to begin divorcing from her husband.
At the inquest, Mr Lawrence will present letters he sent to healthcare professionals about her condition over the years, which he said went unanswered.
He said he wants to prove he was trying to help his wife, rather than cause her condition to worsen.
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