"A doctor who gave hundreds of children mind- numbing drugs after misdiagnosing them with epilepsy was allowed to work on for years despite warnings, it has emerged.
Consultant paediatrician Andrew Holton, who had no specialist training in epilepsy, ignored tests showing the youngsters did not suffer the condition and prescribed medication which turned them into 'zombies'.
Concerns about his attitude to patients were raised in 1995, and about his abilities three years later, but he wasn't suspended by Leicester Royal Infirmary until May 2001.
The possibility of subjecting Dr Holton's work to independent scrutiny was raised in 1999, but the hospital decided merely to monitor him themselves.
Yesterday that decision was branded a 'serious error of judgment' by an independent inquiry panel set up by the Department of Health.
Angry parents of children misdiagnosed by Dr Holton accused the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust of treating consultants 'like gods'.
Sue Parr of Enderby, Leicester, whose son Peter, 16, was wrongly diagnosed, said: 'I had tears in my eyes as the chief executive of the trust said sorry to us, because it is nothing but a glib word. 'We are angry the previous concerns have been revealed, and appalled they were not acted upon. This shows that consultants are treated like gods and it is believed that they cannot make mistakes.'
Some of the cases Dr Holton diagnosed began with children complaining of headaches or parents concerned about bad behaviour, clumsiness and falling behind at school.
When the children were given the drugs some became violent, others listless and some suffered temporary disabilities which left them in wheelchairs.
Out of 1,948 children, Dr Holton misdiagnosed epilepsy in 618 and wrongly put 500 on high dosages of drugs.
So far 400 families have launched legal action against the UHL NHS Trust, which could cost the Health Service £10million.
Dr Holton, 50, began work at Leicester Royal Infirmary in 1990. Complaints from patients and other paediatricians in the mid to late 1990s continued until his suspension.
One complainant, the inquiry learned, said Dr Holton had an 'abrupt approach, a tendency to rudeness and an apparently dismissive attitude towards parents and carers'.
It also discovered that Dr Alun Elias- Jones, then the hospital's clinical director, received letters from community paediatricians alarmed at Dr Holton's rate of epilepsy diagnosis and the 'unacceptable levels of clinical risk in children' late in 1998.
Dr Holton's own neurology nurse, Ann Brown, had expressed her fears about his methods and the high doses of drugs prescribed in a letter to the clinical director in 2000.
Dr Peter Reading, chief executive of the UHL NHS Trust, accepted that mistakes were made and expressed regret. The Trust is reviewing its complaints procedure.
A spokesman for Epilepsy Action said there were too few experts in childhood epilepsy, adding: 'The situation in Leicester could quite easily have happened elsewhere.'
Solicitors for the families are bringing similar, unrelated claims against Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and hospitals in Doncaster, Manchester and Warrington.
Dr Holton has left the hospital but is thought to be retraining in another medical field."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-200349/Dr-Zombie-blundered-years.html#ixzz2fMD8qRZt
Concerns about his attitude to patients were raised in 1995, and about his abilities three years later, but he wasn't suspended by Leicester Royal Infirmary until May 2001.
The possibility of subjecting Dr Holton's work to independent scrutiny was raised in 1999, but the hospital decided merely to monitor him themselves.
Yesterday that decision was branded a 'serious error of judgment' by an independent inquiry panel set up by the Department of Health.
Angry parents of children misdiagnosed by Dr Holton accused the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust of treating consultants 'like gods'.
Sue Parr of Enderby, Leicester, whose son Peter, 16, was wrongly diagnosed, said: 'I had tears in my eyes as the chief executive of the trust said sorry to us, because it is nothing but a glib word. 'We are angry the previous concerns have been revealed, and appalled they were not acted upon. This shows that consultants are treated like gods and it is believed that they cannot make mistakes.'
Some of the cases Dr Holton diagnosed began with children complaining of headaches or parents concerned about bad behaviour, clumsiness and falling behind at school.
When the children were given the drugs some became violent, others listless and some suffered temporary disabilities which left them in wheelchairs.
Out of 1,948 children, Dr Holton misdiagnosed epilepsy in 618 and wrongly put 500 on high dosages of drugs.
So far 400 families have launched legal action against the UHL NHS Trust, which could cost the Health Service £10million.
Dr Holton, 50, began work at Leicester Royal Infirmary in 1990. Complaints from patients and other paediatricians in the mid to late 1990s continued until his suspension.
One complainant, the inquiry learned, said Dr Holton had an 'abrupt approach, a tendency to rudeness and an apparently dismissive attitude towards parents and carers'.
It also discovered that Dr Alun Elias- Jones, then the hospital's clinical director, received letters from community paediatricians alarmed at Dr Holton's rate of epilepsy diagnosis and the 'unacceptable levels of clinical risk in children' late in 1998.
Dr Holton's own neurology nurse, Ann Brown, had expressed her fears about his methods and the high doses of drugs prescribed in a letter to the clinical director in 2000.
Dr Peter Reading, chief executive of the UHL NHS Trust, accepted that mistakes were made and expressed regret. The Trust is reviewing its complaints procedure.
A spokesman for Epilepsy Action said there were too few experts in childhood epilepsy, adding: 'The situation in Leicester could quite easily have happened elsewhere.'
Solicitors for the families are bringing similar, unrelated claims against Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and hospitals in Doncaster, Manchester and Warrington.
Dr Holton has left the hospital but is thought to be retraining in another medical field."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-200349/Dr-Zombie-blundered-years.html#ixzz2fMD8qRZt
