Compensation: hundreds of children were misdiagnosed

A High Court judge approved an innovative settlement scheme last week that will help compensate hundreds of children misdiagnosed with epilepsy by former Leicester Royal Infirmary doctor Andrew Holton.


Under the scheme a panel of three agreed independent medical experts considers each child's case, with the lawyers on both sides, then using their assessment to determine the value of the claim. Parents have the opportunity to question the panel about their child's experience and the long-term consequences.


The scheme was developed jointly by regional firms Freeth Cartwright and Alexander Harris, which represented the majority of the families affected, and Browne Jacobson, which acted on behalf of the National Health Service Litigation Authority.


At the hearing in Nottingham, Mrs Justice Cox commended all parties for their creative use of legal procedure and a pragmatic, proportionate and cost-effective solution.


Carole Ayre, clinical negligence partner at Browne Jacobson, said: 'All parties concerned were faced with some major obstacles to investigate and resolve the claims, and recognised we would have to work together.'


She explained the major difficulty was the lack of paediatric neurologists to deal with each claim in the normal way, and the volume of cases meant it would have been at least a decade before they settled.


Paul Balen, clinical negligence partner at Freeth Cartwright, said: 'This flexible approach could be adapted in the future for similar cases. When you think outside the box, you produce results that are acceptable to the parties and the court.'


Eleven settlements were approved this week, with payments ranging from £4,000 to £48,000. The parties hope that all cases will have been dealt with by 2008.