Toilet
(IN PHOTO) A sign that reads "We are without water" is seen in a toilet at a Restaurant in the Morumbi neighborhood, in Sao Paulo January 26, 2015. Sao Paulo, Brazil's drought-hit megacity of 20 million, has about two months of guaranteed water supply remaining as it taps into the second of three emergency reserves, officials say. Reuters

Because of her fear of using the toilet, 16-year-old Emily Titterington died from a heart attack. An inquest on the cause of death of the British teen found that for eight weeks, Titterington did not move her bowels due to constipation.

The medical condition caused the teen to frequently withhold her faeces for weeks, sometimes lasting up to two months, reports The Telegraph. Her bowel, which grew so large, compressed the girl’s chest cavity and eventually displaced her other organs. Her lower ribs were pushed out further than her pubic bone when she collapsed on Feb 8, 2013, at her home in St Austell, Cornwall. Despite efforts of paramedics to revive Turrington, they failed. The teen was eventually declared dead at the hospital.

Dr Amanda Jeffery, pathologist of the Home Office, said that autopsy showed that Titterington suffered from a massive extension of the large bowel because of her stool-withholding condition. That condition is more found among children. The girl also had mild autism.

It did not help that Titterington refused to be examined physically despite efforts of Geraldine, her mother, for her daughter to see a doctor, said Dr Alistair James, the child’s GP. James could only prescribe laxatives for Titterington but was not able to check the teen’s abdomen.

Her family, in a statement read at the court by Brian Herbert, the victim’s brother-in-law, said they tried different remedies to treat her condition, but none worked. These include the use of homeopathic pills and the Body Talk, a distance healing technique.

Serco out-of-hours physicians’ service had scheduled a district nurse to visit the family on Feb 9 to perform enema on the girl, but she died the night before, reports BBC. An enema involves flushing the colon with water through the rectum to stimulate stool evacuation and help relieve constipation, according to Healthline.

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