£10m settlement for children misdiagnosed with epilepsy

A High Court judge last week approved a unique settlement scheme that is expected to produce a total of around £10m ($18m; €15m) for nearly 500 children wrongly given diagnoses of epilepsy or who were incorrectly treated for the condition.

Mrs Justice Cox said she would “happily give approval” for the innovative process, which will speed up compensation claims for the families of children wrongly treated by the consultant paediatrician Andrew Holton at Leicester Royal Infirmary between 1990 and 2001.

Dr Holton, who worked alone in the role of paediatric neurologist even though he lacked the specialist training, gave a wrong diagnosis in about a third of his cases, …