An probe into NHS shortcomings will reexamine the untimely death of an aristocrat’s 25-year-old daughter.
Gaia Young, half-sister of author Toby Young and the deceased Lord Young of Dartington’s daughter, passed away in July 2021 after claiming to have a terrible headache.
She had intense vomiting, so an ambulance was called to take her from her home in Islington, north London, to University College London Hospital (UCLH).
Four days after being hospitalised, Gaia was ruled brain dead and placed on a ventilator 16 hours later.
The product specialist and artist had no underlying health conditions and she tested negative for Covid. Her death was treated as unexplained following a post-mortem.
An inquest into her death was held last February, where a coroner gave a narrative conclusion, ruling ‘a missed chance’ by medics when Gaia first arrived at hospital led to her death.
A CT scan was not carried out following Gaia’s admission, with doctors assuming her symptoms were the result of dehydration or drug-taking.
The official cause of death was recorded as a cerebral oedema – or swelling of the brain – caused intracranial pressure.
However, Gaia’s mum, Lady Dorit Young, believes doctors ‘misread signs’ and misdiagnosed her.
She said a number of questions over her daughter’s death were not answered at the inquest, including what caused her brain to swell suddenly.
Lady Young had requested for a specialist German neurologist to give evidence at the inquest, but this was refused by the coroner.
At the hearing she claimed two attempted lumbar punctures made Gaia’s condition worse and left her extremely distressed.
She described her life since losing her daughter as ‘like a nightmare train running over me’.
Almost two years on from Gaia’s death, UCLH is now hoping to answer some of her mother’s questions.
A spokesman for the hospital trust said: ‘We have agreed to commission a range of independent experts, including a neurologist, to explore further the circumstances surrounding Gaia’s death.
‘We have invited Gaia’s mother to agree the details of the external reviews so that we can proceed.’
Lady Young said: ‘The coroner allowed the hospital to choose its own witnesses, which is a breach of natural justice.’
Outside of work, Gaia was a competitive ballroom dancer, a keen painter and loved to cycle.
She was thinking of taking a cycling holiday and had been on a bike ride on the day she became ill.
It was around 10.30pm that evening when she complained of a sudden headache and excused herself from dinner to lie down on a sofa in the front room.
By the time she arrived at hospital she was confused, had difficulty communicating with medics and was throwing up.
Lady Young said: ‘The junior doctor there thought she was intoxicated because she was acting strangely.
‘She had hallucinations. She seemed to reach out for things that didn’t exist. She was repeating sentences.’
Lady Young said she had since spoken to a doctor who said assumptions like this were not uncommon and can be ‘a death sentence’.
‘You must never assume intoxication without proof, but it is happening to young people every weekend,’ she said.
In her conclusion, coroner Mary Hassell said one possible cause of Gaia’s oedema was low sodium levels, in which case, ‘more monitoring and better clinical management would have afforded her a better chance of survival’.
Mrs Hassell added ‘a CT scan was not conducted as it should have been immediately following her admission to hospital’.
She said: ‘If the earlier CT scan had been conducted and had shown raised intracranial pressure or the later scan had been observed correctly, this would have changed the management [of her care]. Gaia Young would not have had a lumbar puncture attempted.
‘Had intracranial pressure been noted it would have resulted in the “head up” nursing position, admission to the ICU and potential intubation that would have afforded her a better chance of survival.’
Lady Young said this meant her daughter’s critically raised pressure in her brain was not discovered early enough to save her life.
She added: ‘In fact it was never even on the clinicians’ radar as long as Gaia was alive.
‘Gaia died right under their noses and the medics did not know what they had on their hands.’
While the inquest uncovered possible missed opportunities to save Gaia’s life, the actual cause of her oedema was ‘unclear’, the coroner said.
Lady Young believes this question could have been answered if a neurologist had been called to court, as she had requested.
She said: ‘I’m looking for the truth. My daughter was a very fine girl. She would have done what I am doing.
‘I’m incredibly angry with the system. I’ve never been in a situation like this before. If you would have told me five years ago that this is how things are handled, I just wouldn’t have believed you.’
UCLH said new guidance has been given to staff to handle patients with similar symptoms.
The spokesman added: ‘We understand that this continues to be an extremely difficult time for Gaia’s mother and loved ones and offer our deepest sympathies.
‘While the coroner could not say that different care could have prevented Gaia’s death, we do acknowledge some things could have been done better.
‘We have already developed new clinical guidance and training following our internal investigation and we are committed to understanding what further lessons can be learned.’