Family win compensation
Added (2009-Feb-08)
The family of a girl who had to have her legs amputated as a result of meningitis and septicaemia have been awarded compensation.
Lydia Cross fell ill five years ago at the age of two, the Daily Mail reports.
Her father, Tony, took her to see a doctor, who diagnosed the infant as suffering from a virus.
Three days later, her condition had deteriorated and she was seen by a different doctor. This time, the medic said she was suffering from an ear infection.
The following day, her temperature had soared and she was hallucinating.
Her younger sister had just spent two weeks in hospital suffering from septicaemia and suspected meningitis and her mother, Jodie, was concerned that Lydia had caught it too.
However, when she rang the family doctor and asked for a home visit, she was told that was not the surgery's policy.
Later that day, Lydia was taken by her parents into the medical centre and a doctor immediately called an ambulance.
Five weeks after becoming ill, she had to have her legs were amputated below the knees because blood poisoning had killed the soft tissue.
Recently, the medical insurers of the doctor who refused to pay a home visit to Lydia admitted 85 per cent liability and the family was awarded a six-figure sum in compensation.
Meningitis is an infection of the protective membranes that surround the brains and spinal cord.
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