A YOUNG woman died from a sudden headache after telling doctors “I made a mistake”, an inquest heard today.
Gaia Young had spent the day cycling in the sunshine and hanging out with friends but was rushed to hospital after falling severely unwell.
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The “clean-living” daughter of Lord Michael Young was “confused” and falling asleep while at University College Hospital, an inquest heard.
Gaia, whose half-brother is writer Toby Young, told doctors “I made a mistake” but was unable to give a detailed description of her day, it was said.
Medics initially feared she could be intoxicated but the hearing was told she did not drink excessively or take recreational drugs.
Gaia was also seen looking “dehydrated and agitated” and rolled on the bed while holding her abdomen but no underlying cause for the artist’s rapid decline was found.
The court was told doctors believe she suffered a generalised cerebral edema – a life-threatening condition that causes the brain the swell.
Her mother Dorit Uhlemann, Lady Young, today accused doctors of missing chances to save her daughter.
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She said: “I believe that with proper care she need not have died.
“I believe she lost the chance to live. How can it be that a previously healthy young woman dies in a hospital and yet nobody knows why?”
Lady Young told the court how Gaia begun suffering a “sudden, severe headache with awful vomiting” at around 7.30pm at home on July 17.
She believes her daughter would have been “very scared, embarrassed and self-conscious in hospital”.
Lady Young also said she was “not kept informed” and told the inquest that her daughter had been “completely misdiagnosed” and “signs were misread”.
‘BELOVED’
The mum added: “[Gaia] was a responsible, polite, clean-living young woman with keen interest in her own health and in her intellectual and professional development.
“She was also very protective over me and as her only parent left would not have wanted to worry me. She was my beloved child.
“If anyone had asked me I would have told them, but it’s simply not possible that she would have been recreationally intoxicated.”
The inquest was told medics thought Gaia may have been intoxicated “because of her age and her history of being with friends”.
Dr Zoe Veary, who saw her in A&E, said: “When I asked if she had been drinking she said ‘not enough’.
“She often made the comment ‘I made a mistake’.”
TRAGIC END
Gaia was given fluid resuscitation but her condition worsened and she eventually stopped breathing properly the following afternoon.
After she suffered respiratory arrest, doctors were not able to complete a spinal tap to diagnose what was wrong, the inquest heard.
The artist passed away and showed “neurological recovery” after deteriorating during the procedure.
Dr Thomas Samuels, who was involved in the spinal tap, admitted “communication during the course of the day would ideally have been better” with Lady Young.
But he said he believed the right medical decisions were made in response to her condition based on her symptoms.
He added: “I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
Dr Christian Hasford said he felt the cause of her condition could be related to toxins or inflammation but “did not feel this was intoxication by alcohol or a conventional recreational drug”.
Gaia graduated from Bristol University where she studied history, before working in Austria at a hotel and then for a tech start-up.
During lockdown, Gaia volunteered for the Islington Covid-19 taskforce – and she helped people who had to shield as well as the homeless.
And she donated nine inches of her hair three days before her death to the charity Little Princess Trust – which makes wigs for cancer patients.
She had also volunteered in Nepal, building schools for girls, and donating her salary to various charities including Shelter and the Refugee Council.
The inquest continues.
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