Family of epilepsy boy sue over care

COLIN Ferrie is being sued for negligence by the family of a 14-year-old epilepsy patient, it emerged last night.

News of the legal action comes after the consultant was suspended from clinical work at Leeds General Infirmary following our revelations last week.

The teenager’s family, who have asked not to be identified, complain that instead of referring the boy for surgery at the earliest possible stage in his illness, Dr Ferrie put him on a succession of about 15 strong drugs that has left him with the mental age of a toddler.

The boy’s mother lost faith with Dr Ferrie and instead took her son to Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, where she was told he was a prime candidate for surgery that would help stop up to 150 seizures a day.

The youngster finally had the operation in August 2013.

The child’s mother said she was ‘deeply disturbed’ to learn that Dr Ferrie had been filmed snorting cocaine and taking GHB.

‘Shocked does not even cover it,’ she told The Mail on Sunday. ‘I am still physically shaking now from reading it. It’s horrendous.’

Her son has a rare form of epilepsy called Doose syndrome, which causes him to fall to the floor without warning. He was having about 150 fits a day when Dr Ferrie first began treating him.

She says her son ‘should have had this surgery when he was five or six years old after the third or fourth medication did not work’.

The family originally asked for a second opinion in 2007, presenting the request in writing to Dr Ferrie during an appointment.

‘He screwed it up and put it in the bin,’ she said.

‘Years later, we were still not happy – my son was getting worse and worse.’

She launched a clinical negligence claim in November 2013. Her lawyers are now compiling a dossier on the family’s complaints.

Last night, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed Dr Ferrie had been treating the boy and issued a brief statement which read: ‘We can confirm we have been approached by the family’s legal representatives for information about care provided by the Trust.’

Dr Ferrie said he did not want to comment, referring The Mail on Sunday to the Medical Defence Union, a body that advises doctors on negligence claims.

An MDU spokesman said: ‘He cannot give his side of the story because he has a duty of patient confidentiality.’