A 12-year-old girl who took her own life while sectioned at a Sheffield mental health unit was failed by medical staff who did not diagnose her underlying brain condition, an inquest has concluded.
Mia Lucas was found unresponsive in her room at the Becton Centre, part of Sheffield Children's Hospital, on 29 January 2024. The inquest heard she had undiagnosed autoimmune encephalitis, a rare condition causing brain swelling that explained her 'acute psychosis'.
The jury found that the failure to perform a lumbar puncture at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) before her transfer to Sheffield 'possibly contributed' to her death. Blood tests and an MRI at QMC were negative, leading doctors to rule out physical causes, but further tests were not conducted.
Mia was transferred to the Becton Centre on 9 January and died three weeks later. The jury noted that communication between QMC and the Becton Centre gave an 'inappropriate level of assurance' that organic causes had been ruled out, and that risk management at the Becton Centre was insufficient.
Mia's mother, Chloe 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.' Dr Manjeet Shehmar, medical director at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, apologised and accepted the coroner's outcome.
