Murray nearly died before cannabis oil treatment... now doc has dumped him
Consultant cuts contact over ‘stress’
A DESPERATELY ill boy has been “dumped” by his own consultant because he said dealing with the case was causing him “stress”.
Now Murray Gray, eight, who almost died from severe epilepsy, has been left without a named consultant.
Any stress the consultant may have is dwarfed by that of Murray’s family, who have to pay £1400 a month for medicine to keep him seizure free.
Murray was diagnosed with Doose syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy, in 2017 and had up to 12 seizures a day.
After he ended up in a vegetative state in hospital, his mum, Karen, 46, from Edinburgh, smuggled cannabis-based drugs containing previously banned tetrahydro cannabinol ( THC) into Scotland to save her son’s life.
Since he started taking Bedrolite and Bedica – now legally approved for use – he has been seizure-free for 15 months.
But the cost is crippling and Karen and husband Stuart, 46, have been campaiging to get them on the NHS.
Now Murray’s consultant, who we have agreed not to name at Karen’s request, has written to the family saying he was ending Murray’s care “due to my own stress caused by the situation”.
Karen, who says Murray “nearly died before he got Bedrolite and Bedica” added: “It is not as if I email him all the time but now he has just dumped Murray. I am definitely under a bigger strain than the consultant. I could not believe it when I got his letter.”
Karen also received a letter from NHS Lothian in which she was told she could no longer correspond with any clinicians by email about her son’s care, which will now be run by a “complex epilepsy team”.
Last night, Lib-Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Surely in the health service patients should have ready access to consultants. It is not as if this mum has been abusive.”
Dr Tracey Gillies, NHS Lothian medical director, said: “We are unable to discuss individual patients but in some cases it may be appropriate for care to be taken over by the complex epilepsy team, which is designed specifically for children, and consists of three neurology consultants along with specialist nursing staff.” The Scottish Government did not wish to comment.