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A boy found hanging in his family home had been passed around NHS mental health services as doctors rejected his case, an inquest heard today.
Tragic James Bassett, 16, was discovered hanging from a length of electric cable at the home he shared with his mother and two brothers in Merseyside.
A coroner's court heard that the teenager had been treated for depression by mental health services for three years prior to his death.
The youth had a complex series of problems and described himself as "zombie-like" and "pretending to be normal when I'm not".
North Merseyside Coroner Christopher Sumner heard that for five months before his death experts had passed around James' case, deliberating over who should treat him.
Dr Michael Gopfert, of the South Liverpool Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), said James's case was passed to Liverpool's 16-18 Mental Health team when he turned 16 in January 2010.
But in the months that followed, officials from mental health services battled over who should treat James, who was agoraphobic and described himself as feeling "crap, miserable, bored and horrible."
Speaking at the inquest at St Helens Town Hall, Celeste Foster from the 16-18 Mental Health Team said: "We had concerns that James had been discharged from the CAMHS team without a medium to long term transitional plan at a time of high vulnerability."
James suffered from health problems from the age of five which left him feeling nauseous at the thought of leaving his house and described his life as having "little meaningful activity".
Eventually a home visit from the 16-18 team was arranged for September 2010, two months after James's case had been passed on by Dr Gopfert.
Several appointments were rearranged in the following months.
The team eventually visited James and his mother Julie at their home in Dymchurch Road, Speke on 10th December, four days before he died.
In this meeting, James told Ms Foster that he blamed healthcare officials for not taking him seriously.
She added: "James described his frustration and thought the previous healthcare team had not taken enough action to try and resolve or repair the prolapse.
"He felt that others did not understand the degree of seriousness of impact it had on his mental health and he was not being taken seriously."
James also told Ms Foster that he felt helpless and alone, and cut himself to deal with his feelings.
He revealed that he had periods of being preoccupied by thoughts of death and had experienced suicidal impulses for three years, but denied feeling suicidal at that time.
Another appointment was arranged for January the following year as Ms Foster and Dr Rachel Duffy had not decided on a long-term plan for James.
Five days later James was discovered hanging from an electrical cable in his home by his mother Julie.
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