The “polite” and “clean-living” daughter of Michael Young died after suffering a sudden unexplained headache, an inquest has heard, as the deceased’s mother accused medics of missing chances to save her. Gaia Young was taken to hospital having fallen severely ill after going out for a bike ride and meeting friends on 17 July, it was said. Doctors said Young, whose father was the late social entrepreneur and Labour peer Lord Young, was “confused” and falling asleep when she was seen at University College hospital. They were initially concerned that Young could be intoxicated but an inquest at St Pancras coroner’s court on Monday was told she did not drink excessively or take recreational drugs. Heatstroke and dehydration were also suspected but no underlying cause for the healthy 25-year-old’s rapid deterioration was found, leaving her family and friends searching for answers, the inquest heard. Dorit Uhlemann, Lady Young, paid tribute to her “much-loved, beautiful and healthy” daughter in a written statement read to the inquest on Monday. “I believe that with proper care she need not have died,” she said. “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 said her daughter had begun suffering a “sudden, severe headache with awful vomiting” at about 7.30pm at home on 17 July. “I think that Gaia would have been very scared, embarrassed and self-conscious in hospital,” she said. The mother added she “was not kept informed” and told the inquest that her daughter had been “completely misdiagnosed” and “signs were misread”. “[Gaia] was a responsible, polite, clean-living young woman with keen interest in her own health and in her intellectual and professional development,” she said. “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.” After arriving at hospital, Young, an artist, told medics: “I made a mistake,” but was unable to give a detailed account of her day in her drowsy state, it was said. Dr Zoe Veary, who saw Young after she reached A&E, said she thought the patient may be intoxicated “because of her age and her history of being with friends”. Medics later assessed the risk as less likely while they explored a range of diagnostic possibilities, the inquest heard. Young appeared “dehydrated and agitated” and was seen rolling on the bed and holding her abdomen, Veary said. The doctor said in a statement: “When I asked if she had been drinking she said ‘not enough’. She often made the comment ‘I made a mistake’.” Young was given fluid resuscitation but her condition worsened and she eventually stopped breathing properly the following afternoon, the inquest heard. She suffered respiratory arrest at about 3.15pm, which meant a procedure to diagnose her condition – known as a lumbar puncture – could not be completed, doctors said. There was no “neurological recovery” after the deterioration during the procedure and Young later died on 21 July, it was said. Doctors believe she suffered a generalised cerebral edema – a life-threatening condition that leads to fluid developing in the brain, causing it to swell. But the underlying cause of the cerebral edema, which medics said developed rapidly, remains unknown. Dr Thomas Samuels, who was involved in the lumbar puncture, acknowledged that “communication during the course of the day would ideally have been better” with Young’s mother. But he said he believed the right medical decisions were made in response to Gaia Young’s condition based on her symptoms. “I recognise that communication during the course of the day would ideally have been better than it was,” he said. He added: “I wouldn’t have done anything differently.” The inquest before senior coroner Mary Hassell continues.