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Seven families whose children were misdiagnosed with epilepsy or mistreated for epilepsy by paediatrician Dr Andrew Holton, are today expected to have their claims for compensation approved by a County Court Judge.

Today's hearing at Nottingham Magistrates Court, follows acceptance of liability by the University Hospital of Leicester NHS Trust.

An earlier report from the NHS Trust identified that Dr Holton, who worked for 10 years as a Consultant Paediatrician at Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI), had misdiagnosed and mistreated 618 children with epilepsy.

Dr Holton both misdiagnosed children and prescribed inappropriate medication.

Some of the children wrongly treated never had epilepsy at all.

For some sufferers of epilepsy at most two anticonvulsant drugs are acceptable, however, Dr Holton was prescribing as many as six different tablets to some children under his care.

Some of those in turn had underlying conditions such as autism or attention deficit problems, which were masked by the anti-epileptic drugs.

Specialist clinical negligence solicitor Richard Follis acts for over 150 families who were mistreated by Holton. He said:

"Today's settlement will offer some sense of closure for seven families at the end of a very traumatic struggle. Many other cases are still being investigated and waiting to be reviewed by a panel of experts."

In January 2006 at a GMC hearing a panel ruled Holton fit to practice, placing some restrictions on his practice. His perfomance was judged to ahve been 'seriously deficient'.

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