Girl who died after being sectioned had a brain condition that could have been treated

LACK OF TESTS 'CONCERNING', INQUEST TOLD

- By DAVE HIGGENS

A 12-YEAR-OLD Nottingham girl who died after she was admitted to a specialist mental health unit when she developed acute psychosis was suffering from a potentially treatable physical brain disorder, a pathologist has told an inquest.

The mother of Mia Lucas burst into tears when Professor Marta Cohen announced at Sheffield Coroner's Court that she had brought new information from blood tests which confirmed that Mia was suffering from autoimmune encephalitis when she was found unresponsive in her room at the Becton Centre in Sheffield on January 29, 2024.

Much of the evidence called at the inquest, which started last week, has centred on whether Mia had autoimmune encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain that can cause extreme psychiatric symptoms and is treatable.

But Prof Cohen said the new results were conclusive. She said the medical cause of Mia's death remained “compression of the neck” but she had now added that this was caused by “acute psychosis’, which was caused by “autoimmune encephalitis”.

An expert neurologist who told the inquest earlier on Monday that he could only say it was “possible” Mia had the disorder but not “probable’, was recalled to the witness box following the new evidence to say it was now “definitive” that she had autoimmune encephalitis, and this was the cause of her psychosis.