Angela Walker In Conversation - Inspirational Interviews, Under-Reported News
For news lovers everywhere. Join former BBC reporter and broadcast journalist Angela Walker as she engages in thought-provoking conversations with inspirational individuals about current affairs and under-reported issues. We examine stories mainstream media don’t cover: issues of social justice and campaigns that aim to improve society and the world we live in. We look at issues around government, climate change, the environment and world around us. In this podcast, we aim to shed light on important topics that often go unnoticed, providing a platform for insightful discussions with our guests.
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Angela Walker In Conversation - Inspirational Interviews, Under-Reported News
NOT DRUNK, DYING: The Death of Gaia Young and Her Mother's Fight for Answers
When Gaia Young arrived at hospital confused, vomiting and complaining of a severe headache, it was assumed she was drunk or on drugs.
She wasn't.
The 25 year-old from London died from swelling to the brain. But what caused it?
In this podcast Angela Walker talks to Gaia's mother Lady Dorit Young about her relentless campaign for answers to her daughter's death.
Was it an unavoidable tragedy, or the result of systemic failures?
Could Gaia have been saved if her illness was treated differently?
Why were crucial and routine tests not carried out, and could they have saved her life?
Why did the inquest leave more questions than answers?
https://truthforgaia.com/
Music credit: Moment of Inspiration by Purple Planet Music
Hi listener. I thought you might enjoy Don Anderson's podcast. Missing Pieces - NPE Life is a podcast that curates stories of and about people who find out, usually through a home DNA test, that someone in their family tree isn't who they thought. They also tell stories of adoptees who've found lost family, or are looking. The host, Don Anderson, found out in 2021 that his dad wasn't his dad. It changed his life. NPE stands for Not Parent Expected or Non Paternity Event.
https://www.angelawalkerreports.com/
How can a previously healthy young woman die from swelling to the brain with no explanation? 25-year-old Gaia Young was admitted to hospital in July 2021 with a severe headache and vomiting. She died soon after. And vomiting. She died soon after. I'm journalist Angela Walker, and in this podcast, I talk to inspirational people and discuss under-reported issues. My guest today is Lady Dorit Young, gaia's mother, who's campaigned tirelessly for answers to her daughter's death. Lady Dorrit, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so sorry for your loss. First of all, it's a terrible tragedy. Can you tell us what happened when Gaia first fell ill?
Lady Dorit Young:Angela, firstly, thank you so much for shining the light on Gaia's case. It's so important, not only for Gaia but for so many other parents in similar situations, so many other parents in similar situations. Okay, it was a Saturday evening and we had some guests in the garden and Gaia removed herself virtually from the dining table without saying anything. She then complained to me about a massive headache. I originally thought it might have been a heat stroke because it was a hot day, but then she started vomiting and I called basically 111. They then transferred to the ambulance and the ambulance arrived about two and a half hours later on.
Lady Dorit Young:By then, gaia had a constant headache. She talked to the ambulance for about half an hour, completely normal, told them what happened and they suggested to have a checkup in hospital. We were then sitting in the ambulance for about half an hour. They tried to give her something against vomiting and Gaia begged me to come with her, and the ambulance denied it, supposedly COVID. Ambulance denied it, supposedly Covid. I also asked the ambulance to take Gaia to the USLH Hospital because it was the closest hospital and I thought I would come in the morning and collect Gaia. And I saw Gaia the last time in the ambulance, never again alive. She died 17 hours after arriving at UCLH Hospital.
Angela Walker:And talk to me about what happened after that. In the morning you said you thought you'd go to collect Gaia. What happened?
Lady Dorit Young:I hadn't heard anything during the night.
Lady Dorit Young:I had the telephone next to my bedside. I arrived at about 10.30. I was already very anxious as I didn't know what was happening. I was not allowed to go up to the ward. Security basically gave me a telephone number to call.
Lady Dorit Young:Ward Security basically gave me a telephone number to call and the person who picked up that phone call was the nurse in charge and she asked me could it be that Gaia had taken drugs, that she was intoxicated? And I said that would be completely out of character. Gaia is a clean, living young woman who doesn't even want, like me, to drink coffee. Then she said do you want to speak to Gaia? And I said yes, I want to speak to my daughter. But she said but Gaia doesn't make an attempt to talk to you, which was very, very strange and unusual. We were very close. She then held the phone to Gaia and the only thought in that moment that came to my mind was to ask Gaia, gaia is talking difficult for you? And then this little pause and this feeble voice said yes, and I just did not know what to think about it. And then the nurse said Gaia doesn't make any more effort. I tell you what, dorit, you go home and I will escalate Gaia to the ward round and then, as soon as the ward round finished, a doctor will call you and tell you what's happening. This phone call never came.
Lady Dorit Young:I then went home and I couldn't make any sense out of what happened. I was then called. This was 10.30 in the morning. I was called at about five o'clock in the evening by a junior doctor telling me sort of we have bad news, dorit Gaia is in a coma. And I thought coma, people wake up out of a coma. Then I said can I see her? Oh, she's in ITU. Now you have to talk to them. I don't know, I don't think you can go in.
Lady Dorit Young:I still went and now I could walk straight into ITU and there was Gaia. She looked very peaceful, like asleep. She was obviously on lots of appliances, but nobody came to me and said your daughter had died. I thought coma, coma, she's asleep, she will wake up. It can't be that bad. And I still remember very vividly the ITU consultant sitting in a corner, almost in a knot with his legs, not saying a word to me. And then I said so what am I supposed to think of that? And then he said if this would be my child I would be very worried and that was all. And the fact that Gaia had died at three o'clock in the afternoon was never discussed with me, never explained. Afternoon was never discussed with me, never explained. Even the fact that she was dead at that moment I saw her was only implied. It was never. Nobody ever talked to me about Gaia's death actually.
Angela Walker:So when you say that Gaia had already died and you were seeing her, do you mean she was brain dead at that point? Yes, but her body was being kept alive by the equipment.
Lady Dorit Young:Yes for organ donations.
Angela Walker:And what did they tell you about what had happened to her, about why she was in this condition?
Lady Dorit Young:They didn't tell me anything really. They certainly didn't mention any raised intracranial pressure. They said investigations are ongoing, lots of experts are now involved and originally they were thinking that one complication with covid, the sinus um, I can't think of it now a sinus like a kind of blood clot in the brain the idea of heat stroke was still a possibility. Um, disability, yeah, that was it basically, and I was obviously completely unable to have a clear think, to have a clear thought, to ask the right questions. It was like a steamroller had rolled over me and I had to behave. There were constantly nurses, doctors, then immediately the organ donation nurses approached me. So there was one thing after the other. I was on autopilot.
Angela Walker:I know you've mentioned to me previously that initially when she was admitted to hospital, that initially when she was admitted to hospital, it was repeated that they thought she'd had a lot of alcohol to drink or that she'd taken a lot of drugs or something. Tell me a bit more about that, because is that something that you think affected the way that her case was handled?
Lady Dorit Young:Angela, absolutely, because it was a Saturday evening. Gaia was a young woman. It's the first doctor who saw her wrongly assumed intoxication, because I assume they see lots of young people on a Saturday night who are being intoxicated. But in Gaia's case she entered the hospital completely talking normally, not only to the ambulance but to the first nurses. She only began to behave strangely inside the hospital. But it seems as if one healthcare professional doesn't talk to the other one or they don't read the notes they don't want, they almost don't try enough to see the full picture and they certainly didn't reach out to me to find out if Gaia was a recreational drug taker. And the moment the word or the idea, the assumption of intoxication came on the scene, the following doctors held onto it like hell. Doctors held onto it like hell, as if they didn't even want to check it. To test it, they did a tox screen at about midday.
Lady Dorit Young:The following day, the following day, the following day At midday they finally did a tox screen, which of course was negative, and it was even suggested and Gaia denied, because Gaia could talk until the moment of death and she repeatedly denied drug taking. And yet one of the junior doctors was still reported as saying oh yes, that looks all like intoxication, to which she still has to admit to. And this sentence I will not forget until the end of my life. It is so outrageous to automatically assume that my daughter is a liar. When she was a very kind, very straightforward, honest person, she would have never lied. And when the consultant then saw her he then said no, no, no, this patient does not look like intoxicated, it is something in the brain. But it still turns up in the medical news, in the medical records later on as a possibility that she could have had an unknown neurotoxin or drug or whatever.
Angela Walker:At what point did you realise that Gaia had died? Dorit?
Lady Dorit Young:God, it's almost as if I still haven't realised it, because I was so much on autopilot, I had to function and then Daya died. Then we started to fight. I never had a rest and because I'm campaigning, I have not been allowed to move on to grief and I think I still haven't really been able to grieve, haven't really been able to grieve. So I'm very I feel I must like split. One part in me has realised Gaia is dead. The other part in me is still hoping, still hoping for a miracle.
Angela Walker:I think it's very difficult to begin to grieve when you're still searching for answers about what happened. Talk to me about the inquest, because there was an inquest into Gaia's death. Tell me about that.
Lady Dorit Young:Yes, the inquest was on the 14th of February the next year and beforehand I had basically written a submission with a neighbor, with a professional neighbor, and we did our own inquiry from the medical records and this was a very, very clear, thoughtful report which was sent to the trust and to the coroner and both didn't respond. So my first experience with the coroner was that she's not interested really in hearing my position or so. Relatives and families should be in the center of any inquest. Then she basically told me at some stage oh, I have reviewed the papers, it's not necessary to do a pre-inquest review. This is against her own coroner's rules. I protested.
Lady Dorit Young:We then had a pre-inquest review and I stood up and requested a neurologist expert witness because by then it had become it was obviously accepted that Guy had died of a brain condition and I remember very vividly how the coroner then basically turns to the trust representative, to the trust's counsel, and saying that you make sure that the trust chooses the witness who can explain Gaia's brain swelling. That was the request from the coroner to the trust, but the trust in the end didn't follow that request and they brought in an acute medical doctor who had not treated Gaia, but he was the author, the co-author, of the serious what is it called the trust investigation paper paper which, of course, was very pointless because it didn't deliver any differential diagnosis, it focused on the wrong condition and it was basically a very shoddy investigation. So the coroner in the end accepted the trust's investigation but not my report.
Angela Walker:It's interesting, isn't it? It sounds like the trust were invited to be marking their own homework in a way, and I think it would have made sense to have a neurologist there to explain about what might have happened to Gaia. I know the coroner, mary Hassel, recording a narrative conclusion and stated a CT scan was not conducted, as it should have been, immediately following admission to hospital. Have you ever had a response from the Trust about why a CT scan was not carried out on Gaia?
Lady Dorit Young:No, I had a kind of yes, we should have done one, but it might not have shown anything. The brain swelling might not have developed enough to be seen. It's this constantly misleading, this, constantly giving fake explanations? No, because it's not only the CT scan. Gaia was basically failed with basic care. Basic tests weren't done. The CT scan is only part of it.
Lady Dorit Young:Far more important is the fundoscopy. Any patient with a massive headache like Gaia, as one doctor said to me, you would have wanted to see Gaia's eyes because via the eyes you can look straight into the brain and you get an idea if there's anything seriously wrong. There was no fundoscopy done and also ammonia test, which is a simple test. Again, you should be doing it. If a person is confused. Gaia had both symptoms. She should have had a fundoscopy, which is a basic test For every doctor. It's on the curriculum. And the ammonia test is a quick, simple test. But what the trust then does? It's almost like gaslighting. They told me oh, oh, yes, we should have done a fundoscopy, but Gaia would not have allowed us to do it.
Angela Walker:So they blame the patient, the dead patient, which is hugely, hugely awful, and and a fundoscopy just for for the listeners really is when the doctor takes a device and they stare and they look in into the eye and they can see through the pupil, can't they? And they can get a look at what's going on behind the eye and that is quite a standard test. That, um, if you have a headache and you go to the gp, they, they will do that test often, won't they, to rule out things like a brain tumour that they might be able to actually see. The coroner also said knowing of the intracranial pressure would have resulted in head-up nursing, transfer to intensive care and possible intubation. All of this would have afforded her a better chance of survival. What do you want to see happen now, lady Dorrit?
Lady Dorit Young:Oh, wow, okay, Number one I would like a new inquest, because the old inquest was absolutely pointless and it didn't really do what it's required by law to find answers. It's a completely unsatisfactory determination. She did no really efficient inquiry. I also completely agree with Will Powell with his fight for a duty of candor for individual healthcare professionals, because I feel that none of the clinicians had really been honest to me. They have basically either tried not to talk to me or they have been hiding behind second narratives been hiding behind second narratives.
Angela Walker:Just to be clear, a duty of candour would require medics to be honest about when there'd been a mistake or medical negligence, because at the moment, I believe, they're not required to do that by law and so when mistakes happen, they're not always admitted at present. So that's about the duty of candour. I want to read you this statement. This is from UCLH and I just received this the other day. It says we understand the sudden death of a loved one has a lasting impact and offer our ongoing sympathies to Gaia's mother. In 2022, we agreed to commission a range of independent experts, including a neurologist, to explore further the circumstances surrounding Gaia's death. We agreed with Lady Young the scope of the reviews and the experts who will undertake them, and in August 2024, she gave her consent to release Gaia's medical records so reviews can begin Going on. The UCLH statement says we're committed to learning from external opinion and scrutiny and will share the reports with Lady Young and our teams. We've already developed new clinical guidance and training following our internal investigation. What are your thoughts about that statement?
Lady Dorit Young:Yes, a supposedly independent inquiry has started, but we are right at the beginnings. So the first of four experts has been commissioned. So the first of four experts has been commissioned. But your listener has to understand what it means for me to be part of that inquiry. For example, it means that we have to agree on experts. The trust has access to any kind of legal firm, any kind of experts. They would know exactly.
Lady Dorit Young:Is this expert more inclined for the claimant or for the trust, whereas for me it's a completely new field. I have to ask around any kind of contacts. I have to get a list of experts whom I can then trust. This is number one. To word the questions, it's a minefield. It's a 24-7 job. For me, it's incredibly difficult. I have no help with it. I have no legal team, whereas the trust has unlimited funds and unlimited legal teams. And so far we have seen. Why did the trust not bring a neurologist when it really mattered? Why agree now, years later on? All right, we are going to, basically because she hasn't shut up. She's still asking questions. So let's give her her independent investigation, investigation, let's see what comes out of it?
Angela Walker:Let's see if it is truly independent. That's what I want to ask you how confident are you in this inquiry?
Lady Dorit Young:given what's already happened, I feel that the trust is very invested in not finding a diagnosis for Gaia because then it would have a clinical diagnosis just based based on circumstances. It's very, very difficult. They know all that and, for example, I'm still waiting for genetic testing for gaia because one of the one of the possibilities is a genetic illness, and the trust is constantly stalling my request to get the results back, and these results are supposed to feed into the investigation. If we don't get the results, it's very difficult. So one thing is based on the other thing and my hopes are pretty much squashed by what I have seen so far how the trust has treated me with disrespect, with lots of words, with false narratives, with nobody really wants to come forward to talk to me besides some nurses who did speak to me. It's so difficult for a normal person to get any justice, to get any transparency if things have gone wrong in hospital and if the clinicians have failed the patient.
Angela Walker:You are such a determined and strong woman and you've decided, you've committed to finding the truth for your daughter. Has there been any point where you've thought I can't carry on with this anymore?
Lady Dorit Young:Angela. All the time, All the time, I'm doubting to do it another day. I had very dark periods in my life because my life has obviously completely changed. This campaign is 24-7. I have, in a way, lost my business. I do this every day. It's so demanding Without a legal team. I have obviously fantastic friends and neighbors who are helping me, but they're feeding me the information, but yet every email, every letter is channeled through me and that obviously I have been guilty of delays because it's just from sometimes too much.
Angela Walker:Well, it's a very stressful situation to be living. You've been quite critical about the role of the coroner in Gaia's case. Do you think there's a systemic failure with the coroner system in this country?
Lady Dorit Young:Angela, it's a very good question. I think so because very few coroners are now medically trained, so they need to look to the hospitals to get case information. And if hospitals don't do their own proper investigation, the coroner's basing their investigation on very flawed information. And that's exactly what happened in Dyer's case. The coroner favoured the trust's witness and their line of investigation and completely neglected my investigation, what I had found out, and that is, from my point of view, an utter breach of natural justice. And from there I would say, yes, the coronial system is not fit for purpose.
Angela Walker:And, to be clear, the investigation that you'd carried out. This just wasn't just you going onto Google. You had experts, didn't you, who were helping you with your investigation. So do you feel, then, that the coroner should be more independent?
Lady Dorit Young:They should be seriously independent, they should be medically trained, they should really listen to both sides and obviously, like in Gaia's situation, a one-day inquiry is nothing. It's just not even touching the investigation and if I really look at her determination, it's constantly. If this would have happened, then this if this it's an essay of ifs, this is no fact-finding. It's an essay of ifs, this is no fact-finding. This is ridiculous, and I'm so surprised that a coroner can get away with such a pointless investigation and pointless determination. Yes, it's about truth. For example, why can't the ITU consultant in Gaia's case? Why can't they tell me the truth? Gaya's case has the value, the legal value, of about eight to 10,000 pounds.
Lady Dorit Young:I would not want to go to court, but if I had the truth, not only would it allow me to move on, it would allow those consultants to move on, and the term restorative justice came to my mind. The truth would help everybody and I think the way the system works at the moment is incredibly short-sighted and I feel that mistakes are being repeated and repeated because nobody can really move on. You have all these lingering, what do you call it? Dark holes, for example, the fundoscopy. Why is it not being routinely done? Nobody has told me. Nobody knows, nobody wants to know. Done Nobody has told me. Nobody knows, nobody wants to know. Medicine becomes a general gray zone and that's very sad and very bad for patients.
Angela Walker:You know most of us, if we make a mistake in our working life, nobody dies. But when doctors make a mistake, you know every day they have that burden and it is a heavy burden to carry. If I make a mistake, someone could lose their life. With this in mind, do you think this is why we are seeing this kind of reluctance to admit to mistakes?
Lady Dorit Young:Yes, but I do think as well that the trust managers have put so much pressure on doctors, too, to keep their reputation safe, that doctors have become very frightened. To be honest, I don't think that doctors don't want to be honest, because it's in their interest to be honest to patients, to tell them what happened, to tell them where they failed. Not to tell the truth must be a burden in their lives too. It can't feel good to know exactly what happened, and I believe that the ITU consultants in Gaia's case know exactly why Gaia died. But it then became a second narrative, and to live with that kind of obfuscation, semi-lies, can't feel nice obfuscation.
Angela Walker:Semi-lies can't feel nice. We've talked about Gaia's death. Could you tell?
Lady Dorit Young:me about Gaia. What kind of woman was she? Gaia was a very bright girl. She had a first in history. She loved history. She got that from her father, but then she decided that history wasn't safe enough. So she basically wanted to work in IT. She wanted to become a project designer and she was just on her second job as basically self-taught IT expert. She completely devoted herself to studying IT, and her boss her female boss gave a wonderful eulogy to Gaia how engaged she was for women's rights at the workplace. At the workplace, gaia was always thinking of others and never wanted to put herself in the foreground, never wanted to outshine someone. She had an extensive circle of friends. Gaia was also a wonderful dancer. She was a ballroom dancer since her university days at Bristol. She was very artistic. Gaia was a lovely, lovely person to have around and we were extremely close, and so my life is incredibly lonely and bereft without Gaia.
Angela Walker:Well, gaia sounds like a wonderful person and I'm so sorry for your loss, and thank you for sharing Gaia's story with us and telling us about your campaign for the truth, to find out how she died, and I wish you every success with that, because I know to be at peace, that is something that is really important to you. Thank you so much, lady Dorrit Young, for joining me. Thank you, thank you, angela. Thank you for listening to this podcast with me, angela Walker. On my website, angelawalkerreportscom, you'll find many more podcasts and articles about human interest stories like this one. Don't forget to subscribe and follow this podcast, and please do leave us a review. Thank you, until next time. Goodbye.
