This article provides a biography of Ellen West, who suffered from anorexia from the age of 19. She began seeing a psychoanalyst at age 32. She attempted suicide a number of times. She was put in a sanitorium, & was so prone to suicide that she was placed in a locked ward. The doctors agreed she would not recover there, so she was released, although they knew she would probably kill herself. She committed suicide 3 days later. (VM)