Girl, 2, loses both her legs after GP fails to make house call

Lydia Cross, who was only two at the time, was vomiting and hallucinating when her parents called a nearby family doctor and asked him to come round.

Instead, Dr John Harrison gave advice over the phone, a court was told.

Scroll down for more...

When Lydia was finally taken to hospital, she was diagnosed with septicaemia and her legs had to be amputated below the knee to save her life.

Yesterday Dr Harrison's insurers agreed to settle the case. But her mother Jodie, 37, said: "No amount of money will ever, ever replace what has been lost."

Lydia fell ill on November 7, 2003, the same day that her seven-month-old sister, Millie, had been discharged from hospital after recovering from a bout of septicaemia and suspected meningitis.

Over the next three days Lydia, then living in Chippenham, Wiltshire, suffered bouts of vomiting and hallucinations, believing her bed was infested with spiders.

On the morning of November 10 Mrs Cross phoned the Gable House Surgery in Malmesbury, and asked a doctor to make a house call.

Dr Harrison instead gave medical advice over the phone, London's High Court heard.

Lydia's father Anthony, now 38, took Lydia to the surgery that afternoon when the gravity of her condition became clear.

Scroll down for more...

She was given emergency treatment at the surgery before being taken to Bath's Royal United Hospital where doctors diagnosed Haemophilus influenza septicaemia.

Lydia suffered multiple organ failure and gangrene spread to her extremities. Eventually, both her legs had to be amputated.

Through her father, Lydia, who now lives in Barnstaple, Devon, sued Dr Harrison.

The GP agreed that he should have made a house call. But he disputed whether it would have made any difference to the outcome.

Yesterday, however, Dr Harrison's medical insurers agreed to settle Lydia's case on the basis of 85 per cent liability.

Mr Justice Blake approved the compromise and Lydia's case will now go to another court to assess the amount of her compensation unless final terms are agreed before then.

Lydia's solicitor, Anthony Fairweather, said outside court that he now expected Lydia to receive more than £1million.

He said just one set of prosthetic limbs for Lydia costs £10,700. She will need more than one set and they will have to be replaced annually as she grows.

He added: "This case did show up problems with the out-of-hours service and there has been an internal investigation."

Mrs Cross was in court with her husband, who has just finished a 15-month tour as a security officer in Iraq and now plans to join the police.

Mrs Cross said of her daughter, who is at a mainstream school: "She has done amazingly well. I don't really like her being called disabled as she can do more than many of her classmates. She even surfs and enjoys gymnastics."