Mother ‘will not forgive’ after 12-year-old daughter’s death | UK | News
The mother of a 12-year-old girl who died by suicide said she would not forgive the mental health unit for failing to diagnose her daughter’s rare brain disease.
Mia Lucas committed suicide at the Emerald Lodge, part of the Becton Center and Sheffield Children’s Hospital in Sheffield, in January 2024 after suffering from psychotic episodes. He was found unresponsive in his room and died the next day. Yorkshire Live reports.
The girl’s mother, Chloe Hayes, said her daughter was not provided with appropriate care in her time of need, following an inquest jury’s findings that inadequate testing at the Queen’s Medical Center (QMC) in Nottingham may have contributed to her daughter’s death.
The nine-day investigation heard that blood tests confirmed Lucas suffered from autoimmune encephalitis, an extremely rare and complex condition that causes inflammation of the brain, which was likely the cause of the acute psychosis he suffered. No significant testing was performed at QMC.
The jury found that the failure to perform a lumbar puncture at QMC before transferring her to the Becton Center “probably contributed to Mia’s death.” The jury also found that the Becton Center did not adequately respond to the risk of Mia harming herself.
“He was disappointed that the Queen’s Medical Center in Nottingham incorrectly concluded that there was no underlying physical cause for his psychosis and failed to carry out appropriate testing,” Hayes said.
“I think they terminated him and tried to transfer him to mental health services as quickly as possible, which led to him being transferred to the Becton Center,” he added.
Hayes said her daughter’s extreme behavior was only evident in the final weeks of her life. Lucas’ behavior became increasingly alarming around Christmas 2023, when he began hearing voices and physically attacked his mother. He was taken to QMC by ambulance on New Year’s Eve.
Blood tests and an MRI scan were carried out at QMC at the time, but both gave negative results, leading doctors to rule out a physical cause for the psychosis.
Clinicians at Nottingham chose not to order additional tests examining brain wave function and spinal fluid via lumbar puncture, which could have detected autoimmune encephalitis.
Mia was moved to Becton Center on January 9 and died three weeks later.
“His mental health spiraled further out of control there as he was left untreated for his condition and the many failures and lack of care meant he was unfortunately not properly protected from self-harm,” Hayes said.
The National Suicide Prevention Helpline can be reached on 0800 587 0800. In a life-threatening emergency, call 999 first.
