A 12-year-old girl who took her own life after being sectioned was failed by medical staff who did not spot her underlying brain disorder, an inquest has found.

Mia Lucas was found unresponsive in her room at the Becton Centre, which is part of Sheffield children’s hospital, on 29 January last year.

Jurors heard that Mia had undiagnosed autoimmune encephalitis – a rare condition that causes swelling of the brain and which explained her “acute psychosis”.

The diagnosis only emerged partway through the inquest in Sheffield, after a pathologist said she had just received new port-mortem examination test results.

On Thursday, the inquest jury concluded that the failure to carry out a lumbar puncture at Nottingham’s Queen’s medical centre (QMC) before her transfer to the Becton Centre had

See Full Page