Dr John Ellis Hampshire vet kills self with drug used to administer animal euthanasia after leading double life and becoming upset over unnecessary animal deaths.
A Hampshire vet killed himself after becoming distressed over the increasing number of wealthy pet owners who kept ‘unnecessarily’ asking him to put their animals down, an inquest heard.
Dr John Ellis was upset that people with ‘brand new’ cars parked outside his surgery wouldn’t pay to help their animals, a coroner was told.
The 35-year-old told his mother that in contrast, clients who couldn’t afford to pay for treatment often brought their pets in too late for anything to be done.
Hampshire vet was leading double life
Tina Ellis, a Conservative councillor in Fareham, Hampshire told the inquest into her son’s death that this destroyed him.
The veterinarian according to the inquest killed himself by taking a drug used to euthanasize pets according to the dailymail.
In a Prevention of Future Deaths report addressed to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the coroner said the ease with which Dr Ellis was able to acquire the drugs he used to end his life was concerning.
Dr Ellis – who the hearing was told was also leading a ‘double life‘ as he had been secretly cheating on his long-term partner – tricked a veterinary nurse into giving him the deadly medication by falsely claiming he needed it to put down a friend’s ‘large dog.’
Instead, he used the drug to take his own life via an intravenous drip.
Dr Ellis, who was working at a practice near the city, was experiencing considerable stress in both his professional and private life at the time of his death in November 2022.
Mrs Ellis told the hearing that her son told her: “Owners are leaving it too late to come in, they weren’t seeking help early enough for things that could have been quite simple.”
He said: “When I’ve got somebody saying they won’t pay to help their animal and they’re sitting there with a brand new car outside, and other people who were really struggling [financially] would do anything to save their animals, but there was nothing they could do because it was already too late.
“He was finding that destroying,” she added.
Dr Ellis was a resident at Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists at the time of his death and told his mother he had been having sleeping troubles.
He would sleep in his car sometimes when he was on call, rather than go home and have to drive to the vet in an emergency and was under financial pressure as well, she said.
“All of those things completely built up and he was finding it difficult,” she said.
The inquest also heard that for the previous two years, Dr Ellis had been secretly cheating on his partner of 12 years, Ashley James, with another man, Ryan Hunt.
Alex MacDonald, director of Animed – the practice where the vet had acquired the drugs he used to end his life – told the inquest that Dr Ellis was “almost living a double life”.
Mr James, a radiographer, told the hearing that he did not know that Dr Ellis had been cheating on him until after his death.
Recording a verdict of suicide Simon Burge, assistant coroner for Hampshire, said Dr Ellis’s death was “a huge waste of a talented life”.
In a Prevention of Future Deaths report addressed to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Mr Burge warned about how Dr Ellis had been able to get hold of the drugs.
“He used an intravenous line to self-administer a toxic quantity of [the drug], which he had procured by falsely representing to his former employers that he needed it to euthanise a large dog.
“He was able to access the drug, which he knew to be dangerous, without being challenged as to its purpose.’
In a statement shared by suicide charity Amparo, the family said: “Those who knew John will remember him not only for his professional expertise but also for his warmth, generosity, and genuine love for animals.
“He poured his heart into his work, and his absence leaves a deep void in the lives of all who had the privilege of working with him and knowing him personally.”
