Mother may win new hearing into daughter's death

A mother’s claim that a hospital failed to provide suitable experts for a coroner to determine the cause of her daughter’s death could lead to a second inquest.

The attorney-general has acknowledged in a letter to the mother of Gaia Young that although the facts of the case did not suggest that NHS officials had been in contempt of court they “may amount to a reason to seek a fresh inquest”.

The dispute centres on the circumstances of the death of Gaia Young, 25, who died at University College Hospital, London, in 2021 after being admitted for a sudden headache and vomiting, having spent the day cycling.

At her inquest in February 2022 the coroner gave a narrative ruling, stating that “a missed chance” by doctors when she arrived at the hospital led to her death, concluding that the cause of death was unclear. Her mother, Lady Dorit Young, has argued that doctors misread her daughter’s condition and failed to treat her appropriately as she deteriorated. Young told the inquest that the hospital sent a doctor to the hearing to give evidence who was insufficiently skilled to assist the coroner, and that the hospital had more suitably qualified experts available.

In the letter, Young said a court had ordered the hospital to “ensure the attendance at the inquest of such medical witness or witnesses to give oral evidence as are best able to assist [the coroner] with the likely cause of the deceased’s cerebral oedema and thus her death”. Lady Young believes that her daughter died from a metabolic encephalopathy — a brain injury — and asked for a neurological specialist to attend the inquest. She said the expert who attended was “not appropriately qualified or experienced” and that the inquest “was uninformed and uninformative: a waste of time and money”.

Truth For Gaia provides open access to coroner’s inquest papers, transcript, medical records and post-mortem reports.

Source: The Times, 16 November 2023