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LETTERS: Richard Morton and Richard E Appleton Misdiagnosis of epilepsy BMJ 2002; 324: 1219 [Full text]

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A parents view

Adrian P Stevenson   (20 September 2002)

A parents view 20 September 2002
Adrian P Stevenson, Non-medical - Parent of child affected by the crisis Send response to journal: Re: A parents view	I was very disappointed by the response of Dr. Richard Morton into the findings of the Royal College into the work of Dr.Andrew Holton. He was very selective in his use of the report and too willing to look for excuses without a real knowledge of the case. He clearly has no understanding of the depth of the misery and anguish caused by the volumes of misdiagnosis and mistreatment found in the report. Nor did his comments show any understanding of background to the case. Indeed Dr. Holton was undertrained and out of his depth. This did not however stop him from taking a professional view at the very edge - if not beyond the edge - of expert medical opinion. He indeed openly lectured and wrote of his extreme beliefs and accepted that he was not in line with his peers (or should I say experts in the field). Dr Morton ignores the fact that the review by the Royal College was undertaken because of concerns expressed by other qualified medical professionals - many of whom had concerns for many years. Those professional were well aware of the difficulties of the diagnosis of childhood epilepsy and yet still felt that his practice was sufficiently unacceptable to complain. This should surely shed some light on the magnitude of this problem. Dr Morton also ignores the fact that Dr. Holton was mentored for the first five years in his post by a paediatric neurologist from another county. To say he was unsupported is therefore not accurate. Dr. Morton is clearly not an expert in this field of medicine. His comments are, I'm afraid, both distressing to parents and do nothing to allay the fears of consultants being all too willing to find excuses for their peers without sometimes knowing the facts. His expressed views harm the profession. To suggest that Dr. Holton is the victim is to lose sight of the fact that over 1600 children are the real victims.