"She didn’t need to die": Heartbroken mum speaks about shock of losing "fun, bubbly" 12-year-old daughter Mia Lucas
“Mia was always such a happy girl, and she was unwell for such a short period of her life,” her distraught mum said. “She didn’t need to die.”
The mother of a 12-year-old girl who took her life while sectioned at a children’s mental health facility has spoken of the shock loss of her “fun, bubbly girl”. Mia Lucas passed away in January last year - four weeks after being admitted to the specialist unit, in Nottingham.
She was getting treatment after her mum, Chloe, sought help for her daughter, who was displaying sudden mood swings and extreme emotional outbursts.
In September 2023, Mia started to limit her eating in September 2023, shortly after starting secondary school. And two months later, her condition had deteriorated so much she started to become violent, threatening her own mother with knives.
Chloe, 33, took her to Queens Medical Centre, where she was diagnosed as having an ‘acute psychotic episode’ and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act before being transferred to the specialist Becton Centre, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
During just three weeks at the hospital, Mia made five attempts to take her own life, using items in her room, with her last one tragically resulting in her death.
“Mia was always such a happy girl, and she was unwell for such a short period of her life,” her distraught mum said. “She didn’t need to die and with the right care and treatment, she could have got better.”
“It all happened so quickly,” she went on. “I’ll never, ever recover from it, and never be able to forgive the health service for failing her in her time of need.”
A jury inquest into Mia’s death is set to take place later this year, and Chloe has instructed Hudgell Solicitors to represent her. Lawyers say they will question whether ‘subtle features’ of autoimmune encephalitis on an MRI scan should have resulted in a different treatment route.
The rare, inflammatory brain condition is caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking healthy brain cells, in response to a previous infection, as Mia had recently had. Symptoms can include confusion and psychiatric changes, and can be treated with medication.
Numerous failings in Mia’s treatment and care at The Becton Centre were also subsequently identified as part of a Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust investigation.
These included observations of Mia not being carried out in line with policies, observation charts which were ‘not fit for purpose’ and poor communication between staff on shift handovers.
A 2019 Care Quality Commission report into the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, which manages The Becton Centre, rated safety at the hospital as ‘requires improvement’.
Inspectors found that the trust was ‘not fully meeting the new or emerging mental health needs of patients’ at the Becton Centre.
Chloe added: “I believe Mia was failed at every stage, from the moment I took her to hospital and she was diagnosed as being psychotic, to the appalling failures at The Becton Centre. I visited her at The Becton Centre every day, but she was out of my care and control, and it was so hard.
“I asked the staff to remove things from her room, but they just dismissed my concerns and said they were not allowed to. I told the nurses that I didn’t think the observations she’d been placed on were sufficient and I was also concerned that they were leaving Mia at risk.
“I only found out the full details of the attempts she had previously made to take her own life when an investigation was carried out following Mia’s death.
“I turned to professional help believing I’d done the best thing for Mia, and that she’d be helped to get back to her normal self, but from the moment I took her to hospital she was out of my parental control and, quite clearly, not in safe hands.
“Had she been treated and cared for properly, she’d still be here today.”
Dr Jeff Perring, executive medical director at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our thoughts are with Mia’s family and everyone who is grieving her loss in such tragic circumstances.
“Following Mia’s death, we have carried out a thorough review of Mia’s care, and the improvements identified have been acted upon. This included working with her family to offer support and to listen to, and understand their experiences.
“The inquest into Mia’s death is an important opportunity to make sure we learn everything we can, and make any further improvements needed to ensure we provide safe and compassionate care.”