‘I can never forgive the GP who gave my daughter the anxiety pills that she used to take her own life’: The anguish of a mum who was kept in the dark about her 16-year-old’s prescription

Annette McKenzie will never forget how happy her teenage daughter Britney appeared to be on the evening of July 6 this year.

‘I keep replaying that night over and over again and she seemed in such a good mood,’ says Annette. 

‘She came in from a friend’s house, made me a cup of tea and we sat together to watch Big Brother. It was so content and normal — with no signs anything was out of the ordinary.’

With her two younger children watching a video in another bedroom, Annette chatted away with Britney. 

‘Then she made us both another drink, told me about her plans for the weekend and went to bed. I said I loved her and she replied cheerfully: ‘Night, Mum, love you.’ ‘

Britney Mazzoncini (left), pictured with her mother Annette McKenzie (right). Britney’s parents were unaware that she had received anxiety pills from a local GP

That night, Annette and her partner, Britney’s father, Ray, went to bed believing their family was safe and well.

They were unaware that 16 days earlier Britney had been to a GP near their Glasgow home complaining of panic attacks, depression, night-time fears and suicidal thoughts.

Nor did they know the GP — on her first and only meeting with the vulnerable teen — had prescribed her 84 propranolol tablets to be taken three times a day for a month.

The drug, a form of beta-blocker, slows the beating of the heart. It is often used to treat high blood pressure, but is also prescribed for anxiety attacks.

As her parents slept, Britney chatted on social media and apparently received a message that upset her deeply. 

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It has never been traced, but it is known she sent a message to a friend via the mobile app Snapchat saying: ‘I so hate bad news.’

She then took an overdose.

‘I had no idea there was anything wrong until I heard a thud in Britney’s room and a banging on the front door at exactly the same time,’ says Annette, 35. 

‘I fumbled for my phone and saw it was 3.17am.

‘Ray opened the front door and we saw Britney’s friend. She asked if Britney was OK and I said: ‘Of course, she’s in bed asleep.’ Then her friend said: ‘She’s taken an overdose.’ ‘

The couple ran into Britney’s room to find their daughter lying on the floor. 

As her parents slept, Britney (pictured) had chatted on social media and apparently received a message that upset her deeply. She then took an overdose

‘She looked terrible. Her stomach was swollen and huge, her eyes were wide open and black.

Ray took her in his arms and she started to fit and then exhaled a deep breath — which I believe was her last,’ says Annette.

‘I raced into the hallway to the phone and dialled 999 and screamed at her friend, asking what she had taken.

‘She said ‘Her own pills,’ but I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. I shouted ‘What do you mean, her own pills?’ and she said: ‘The pills the GP gave her.’

‘I was stunned. Ray came running out with an empty box of tablets, so I told the emergency operator it was propranolol. 

‘I think they knew we were in big trouble because they sent two ambulances — one for Britney and a second to take me to the hospital. 

‘I think they knew she would need CPR and didn’t want me in the same ambulance.

‘When we arrived at the hospital, I jumped out and saw the paramedics were giving her compressions as they raced her to AE.

Annette says Britney was ‘full of compassion and loving. She helped anyone in distress and one boy later told me that her support when he was bullied had saved his life’

‘I was in total shock. Someone led me to a room and Ray arrived. He felt terrible because he hadn’t been able to give Britney CPR while she was fitting. 

‘No father should ever have his daughter die in his arms. It will haunt him for ever. Britney was always Daddy’s girl.’

The family were incredibly close-knit. Ray, a car valeter, and Annette, a carer, had been childhood sweethearts and when they discovered she was pregnant at 18, they couldn’t have been happier.

‘While other teenagers were out partying, we were so happy making a home for our family. When Britney was born, the three of us all grew up together,’ says Annette.

The closeness of this devoted family was sealed with the arrival of daughter Rhiannon, 14, and son Bradley, nine.

Annette says Britney was ‘full of compassion and loving. She helped anyone in distress and one boy later told me that her support when he was bullied had saved his life’.

Her sister and brother adored her — she walked her little brother to school every day.

Annette (pictured), a carer, and Ray, a car valeter, had been childhood sweethearts and when they discovered she was pregnant at 18, they couldn’t have been happier

As they waited at the hospital, the couple prayed their darling daughter would survive, but Annette says that ‘deep down, I knew she was gone. 

‘I think she died the moment she gave a deep breath in Ray’s arms. We waited in a room at the hospital and when they told us she was gone, I lost my life, too.’

Over the next few days, police launched an investigation into Britney’s death. Propranolol at excessive dose had triggered a cardiac arrest. Horrifyingly, it appears Britney had second thoughts.

‘The police took Britney’s mobile, because her death was unexplained,’ says Annette.

 ‘They returned it seven weeks later and when I searched the history from the night she died, she had Googled what the tablets would do to her body.

‘It had been a cry for help and I can’t imagine her horror when it dawned on her what she had done.’

Annette later found her daughter’s final, desperate Facebook messages as she tried to alert two friends. 

At 2.12am Britney told one she’d taken an overdose and her stomach was ‘burning’. 

Britney (left), pictured with on of her friends. At 2.12a, Britney messaged on of her friends telling her she’d taken an overdose and her stomach was ‘burning’

When a second friend asked why she had taken an overdose, she replied: ‘I don’t know.’

Her friend urged her to make herself sick, but at 2.30am Britney replied she couldn’t because she was struggling to breathe. 

At 2.37am, she told her friend: ‘That’s them [the pills] working. I’m going to go now.’

After her death, two more empty packets of propranolol were discovered by her sister. 

Annette was told by Britney’s friends she had paid the visit to the GP on June 22. Police launched an investigation and interviewed the GP.

‘My daughter reached out for help by saying she was suicidal and yet the doctor told police she didn’t have enough concerns to contact me,’ says Annette. 

‘But she was concerned enough to prescribe propranolol.

‘She didn’t inform me nor refer my daughter for counselling. Instead, by giving her those tablets, she handed my daughter a loaded gun.

‘If Ray and I had known about her suicidal feelings, we would have sought help and made sure we checked her in the early hours. 

‘We would never have left her with three boxes of potentially lethal tablets.’

The shockwaves of Britney’s death have shattered the family. Annette (pictured left) and Ray have been unable to work since

Any parent reading this will no doubt wonder how a young girl can be prescribed powerful drugs without her parents being informed.

In fact, children aged 16 and younger can make their own decisions about treatment, provided a doctor deems them mature enough.

As for informing parents, it comes down to the clinician’s judgment between the right to confidentiality and protecting the child from harm.

The advice from the General Medical Council (GMC) says doctors ‘should explain why you need to share information and ask for consent. 

They will usually be happy for you to talk to parents and others involved’.

If a child does not agree to disclosure, a GP can share information if they judge it is ‘in the best interests of a child who does not have the maturity or understanding to make a decision about disclosure’.

Guidelines such as these reflect the Gillick competency and ‘Fraser’ guidelines. 

These were named after Victoria Gillick, a mother who launched a legal fight in 1983 to stop doctors giving confidential contraceptive advice to under-16s without parental permission.

In 1985, the House of Lords ruled it was lawful for doctors to put under-16s on the Pill provided they were ‘Gillick competent’. 

In his judgment, Lord Fraser set out guides that are used to assess a child’s competency.

Britney’s siblings, Rhiannon and Bradley, adored their sister. She walked her little brother to school every day

The effect of this judgment is seen in a study last year by King’s College London, which found that 75,000 girls under 16 are being prescribed the Pill every year — in many cases without their parents’ knowledge.

This amounts to one in 20 schoolgirls, with some as young as 12. 

A barrister and medical ethicist, Dr Daniel Sokol says: ‘The key question is not age, but whether the child has the maturity or understanding to make a decision to disclose.

‘If the doctor believes it is in the interest of the child for this information to be shared, GMC guidelines allow the doctor to breach confidentiality [and] inform the parents.’

But as Annette and Ray discovered, a crucial judgment about confidentiality was made by a GP their daughter saw on the basis of a single visit from a child she’d never treated before.

They have complained to the GMC, which is investigating the GP.

Annette has also launched a petition with the Scottish Parliament calling for consultation with and consent from a parent or guardian before prescribing medication for mental ill health if the patient is under 18.

She insists she doesn’t want to deter under-18s from seeking help from a doctor and says she ‘accepts there has to be doctor-patient confidentiality on matters such as contraception and teenage pregnancy’.

Annette says Britney (pictured) had suffered stress and low mood two years ago from online bullying, but overcame this with the support of her parents

‘But I believe there should be an exception made for teenagers with mental health problems. It is horrifying to think they could be handed pills their parents don’t even know about, like we were.’

She says Britney had suffered stress and low mood two years ago from online bullying, but overcame this with the support of her parents.

The shockwaves of her death have shattered the family. Annette and Ray, also 35, have been unable to work since.

‘Britney loved Christmas, but instead of shopping for her presents, we’re trying to raise the final £1,000 for her headstone,’ says Annette.

‘Her little brother and sister are so distraught that they won’t make Christmas lists.’

‘Britney will never fall in love or have children — and yet the GP who prescribed those pills so readily has the rest of her life in front of her.’

Dr Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, told Good Health: ‘The case is a tragic one and we must learn lessons from it, but we must be wary of taking any action that will discourage young people from visiting their family doctor.

‘Prescribing is a core skill for GPs, and we will only prescribe medication after a full and frank discussion with the patient to see if this is in the best interests of their health.’

For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or visit samaritans.org.