Boy who lost his legs because of GP negligence

- 28 May 2005;Used with kind permission of the Daily Mail

A GP who advised treating a four-year-old boy with Calpol when in fact he had meningitis was negligent, a judge ruled yesterday.

Dr Pia Holwerda arrived at Sebastian McDonnell’s home without her medical bag, stethoscope or thermometer.

It was only after Sebastian’s family took him to hospital that meningococcal septicaemia was diagnosed.

By that time the illness was so far advanced that the boy had to spend months in intensive care, losing a leg and several fingers to the potentially fatal disease.

He will soon need to have his other leg amputated and also has epilepsy, a chronic bone disease and memory problems.

Sebastian, now 12, from Folkestone in Kent, could be in line for a six-figure compensation award.

After yesterday’s hearing at the High Court in London, Sebastian’s mother, Christina, said: "My son has waited eight years for this. The GP took chances with him which have left him with a lifetime disability. Sebastian’s brave but he gets depressed. Sometimes he asks me why I didn’t let him die’.

Sebastian became ill on Christmas Day 1997, vomting and developing a high temperature.

By 5 pm, Dr Holwerda had been called out. She used a strip thermometer belonging to the family and concluded the little boy might have gastroenteritis, advising his mother to give him Calpol, a painkilling linctus for children and a cool bath.

She said she did not think it was meningitis but told Miss McDonnell what to look out for. As her son continued to vomit and became sensitive to touch and light, Miss McDonnell called the GP again and she arrived at about 9 pm, without her bag, stethoscope, thermometer and other instruments. She failed to examine the child properly and said he was not dangerously ill. As a result, vital hours were lost before he was taken to hospital.

Mr Justice Newman found the GP negligent in failing to make a proper assessment of Sebastian’s condition on her second visit. If she had, said the Judge, he would have received anti-biotics between 10.30 pm and 11 pm, rather than 2 am.

"In my judgment, the defendant left insufficient room for suspicion … in truth, greater suspicion and inquiry was called for.’

The amount of compensation will be decided later.

Sebastian is represented by Sarah Harman.