The mother of a 12-year-old girl who died by suicide said she would not forgive the mental health unit that failed to diagnose her duaghter’s rare brain disorder.
Mia Lucas took her own life at Emerald Lodge, part of the Becton Centre and Sheffield Children’s Hospital in Sheffield, in January 2024 after suffering from psychotic episodes. She was found unresponsive in her room and died the following day, Yorkshire Live reports.
Chloe Hayes, the girl’s mother, said there was a failure to provide appropriate care to her daughter in her time of need, following an inquest jury’s findings that inadequate testing at Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham could have contributed to her daughter’s death.
The nine-day inquest heard how blood tests confirmed Lucas had suffered from autoimmune encephalitis, an extremely rare and complex condition that causes brain inflammation, likely the cause of the acute psychosis she expereinced. Key tests at QMC were not carried out.
The jury revield that the failure to perform a lumbar puncture at QMC before transferring her to the Becton Centre “possibly contributed to Mia’s death”. It also found that jury also found the Becton Centre failed to adequately respond to Mia’s risk of self-harm.
“She was let down at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, who wrongly decided there was no underlying physical cause of her psychosis, and failed to carry out appropriate testing,” Hayes said.
“I believe they simply dismissed her and looked to pass her onto mental health services as quickly as possible, which led to her transfer to the Becton Centre,” she added.
Hayes said her daughter’s extreme behaviour was only evident in her final weeks of life. Lucas’ behaviour became increasingly concerning during the 2023 Christmas period, when she began hearing voices and physically attacked her mother. She 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 produced negative results, leading doctors to discount a physical cause for the psychosis.
Clinicians at Nottingham opted against ordering additional tests examining brain wave function and spinal fluid, via a lumbar puncture, which may have detected the autoimmune encephalitis.
Mia was moved to the Becton Centre on January 9 and died three weeks later.
“Her mental health spiralled deeper out of control there, as she was not being treated for her condition, and the many failings and lack of care meant sadly she wasn’t properly protected from harming herself,” Hayes said.
The National Suicide Prevention Helpline can be reached on 0800 587 0800. In a life-threatening emergency dial 999 first.
