Mia Lucas, who had an undiagnosed brain condition, took her own life after being sectioned at a mental health unit
The heartbroken mother of a 12-year-old girl who took her own life after being sectioned has told two hospitals she “will never forgive them”. Mia Lucas died at a mental health unit in Sheffield in January last year, but her mother Chloe Hayes also apportioned blame to another hospital where medics failed to spot Mia had an underlying brain disorder.
Chloe criticised a “failure to provide appropriate care to her in her time of need” after an inquest jury found inadequate testing at Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham “possibly contributed” to the death of her “beautiful little girl”.
Mia was found unresponsive in her room at the Becton Centre, which is part of Sheffield Children’s Hospital, on January 29 last year. Jurors heard how Mia was suffering from undiagnosed autoimmune encephalitis, a swelling of the brain, which would have been the cause of the acute psychosis she was exhibiting.
This diagnosis only emerged partway through the nine-day-long inquest, after a pathologist revealed she had just received new post-mortem examination test results, provoking shock in the courtroom and tears among Mia’s relatives gathered in the public gallery.
Today (November 27), the jury found that the failure to perform a lumbar puncture at QMC before her transfer to the Becton Centre “possibly contributed to Mia’s death”. The jury also said there was a failure at the Becton Centre to respond adequately to Mia’s risk of self-harm.
In a statement after the inquest, Mrs Hayes said: “It has been devastating to listen to how, when she needed specialist healthcare, for the first time in her life, she was so badly let down.
“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.
“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.”
Mrs Hayes, from Arnold, Nottinghamshire, continued: “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.”
She added: “My beautiful little girl has lost her life and I will never forgive the Queen’s Medical Centre or the Becton Centre for failing her.”
Mrs Hayes said the Becton Centre “proved to be completely unsuitable for her, and one which failed to keep her safe”.
She said: “I have never believed for a moment that Mia ever wanted to take her own life. She was always a happy, healthy child and had so much to live for.”
Mrs Hayes said she wanted everyone to know that Mia’s extreme behaviour was only evident in the final few weeks of her life and “for the other 12 years, she was a beautiful soul who loved life and loved her family, and that’s how we want her to be remembered”.
She said she was “happy, fun, friendly girl who had so much to live for”.
The inquest heard how Mia began to behave strangely over Christmas in 2023 – hearing voices and attacking her mother – and her family became so concerned she was taken by ambulance to QMC on New Year’s Eve.
She was found to be experiencing an “acute psychotic episode” and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. The inquest jury of five women and four men heard how blood tests and an MRI scan undertaken at QMC were found to be negative, and doctors ruled out a physical cause of Mia’s psychosis.
But doctors in Nottingham decided not to order further tests on brain wave function and spinal fluid, through a lumbar puncture, which may have revealed the very rare autoimmune encephalitis. Mia was transferred to the Becton Centre, which is run by Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, on January 9 and died three weeks later.
Dr Manjeet Shehmar, medical director at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), which runs the QMC, said: “I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences to Mia’s family for the loss of their daughter.
“We accept the coroner’s outcome in court today and apologise to Mia’s family for not identifying autoimmune encephalitis while she was in our care. While this is an incredibly rare condition and initial tests were negative, we recognise that further testing may have had an impact on her future, for which we are truly sorry.
“We will take the feedback from the inquest on board and in all future cases of suspected possible autoimmune encephalitis a lumbar puncture will be performed, even in cases of atypical presentation like Mia’s.
“We will also strengthen training and guidance for staff internally and review current published evidence of acute psychotic episodes in children and young people to support the development of clinical guidelines.”
