Lamb Chiropractic Clinic Ltd
Howard Lamb D.C.
The Surgery, 48 Marsh Road, Pinner, Middlesex, HA5 5NQ
020-8866-3230/020-8866-8018
28th May 2014,
Dear Sue,
It is with regret that I have to write this letter. Approximately 18 months into the Flynn case my insurers have managed one document to the court, based on my letters and expertise, and reports from 2 experts. One I have been waiting to review for 6 months, and the other which is not worth the paper it is written on.
Mr Finlay, a spinal neurosurgeon, whose expertise in neurosurgery was not utilised at any stage of Mr Flynn’s treatment, pontificates on subjects that he has no understanding of, or expertise in, i.e. musculoskeletal injuries, general practice, chiropractic, physiotherapy, and presumably imaging. Specific qualifications and experience in these areas would be needed to be deemed expert, otherwise it is just worthless opinion. According to his CV he has none.
Please could you ask Rachel to find out from Mr Finlay how it was physically possible for there to be pain referral to Mr Flynn’s leg. There were no c.r.a.b. symptoms until after his collapse in February. On x-ray in January no evidence that the myeloma was active or had leaked out of the bone into the neural canal, or was external to the body of the bone. Noted in the hospital in Jan/Feb as no neurology, no night sweats, etc (see court documents) which would have been expected with cord/nerve impingement. No sign on imaging until the collapse in February.
The BCA insurance is roughly 55% and 65% more expensive than the UCA’s and MCA’s. I presume that the difference is due to the MCA larger membership and a better deal. From my experience with the insurers I am sure it is not due to the quality of their work. I doubt if your average BCA member is any more dangerous than the other association’s members, and as such should be similarly priced, as the others are.
The answer probably is that ours have lost more cases and wasted vast sums of our money whilst trying to chase and catch red herrings. This is due to the lack of understanding of medical matters. They then pass this cost, of incompetence, onto the BCA membership.
Maybe Rachel could give up to date figures of how much this case has cost so far. Also could she explain why the first question asked was not ‘Is it an asymptomatic or symptomatic myeloma?’ Then we would have known if there was any case to answer, and plan accordingly.
This was asymptomatic myeloma (see my letters) where the vast majority collapse before symptoms (30% of all myelomas) so it would seem that I am being prosecuted for not diagnosing Mr Flynn through luck rather than judgement, which is the normal way for this disease to show. By chance rather than by design it can be revealed on imaging, or in the latter stages with bloods whilst looking for something else. Unfortunately this is rare which is why the vast majority collapse and then give symptoms.
Mr Flynn was an NHS patient, not privately insured, and his condition had improved, his doctor had signed him back to work, and saw no reason to refer for a scan. No reference to acute lower thoracic pain, getting worse, by the time he reached the second physios – Mr Flynn did not fulfil the requirements for the NHS to give him a scan (nice protocols). His rapid degeneration in one month means that there would be no guarantee that it would have shown in the Sept/Oct even if it had been imaged.
I was unhappy when the insurers hired Mr Finlay. I suggested an oncologist with specialist expertise in myeloma, but what do I know? I contacted the UCA on this matter (documented). I believe from Helen’s last e-mail that they are about to hire another haematologist. As we don’t know what the GP’s expert has said, this will only cause more confusion to my defence team, who have highly limited understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathology, oncology, etc, and no understanding of medical language. This means they are learning on the job and reliant on experts like Mr Finlay (Heaven help me!) You will see from my letters/e-mails that I have had to explain the case in a piecemeal fashion, and in plain language to aid the process. All the information supplied has supported my first letter in my complaints procedure right at the beginning in January last year. So far my insurers have not been able to do the same. I did e-mail Helen asking for details of how many such cases she had been involved with and her success rate – no reply on this subject.
I verbally asked for references for Mr Finlay and was told that it was not necessary. I still await a satisfactory reply to my last e-mail to Helen, from 17th February, in terms of the information I asked for. No chiropractic, haematology or oncology reports. All parties’ chronologies :- Stewarts Law set up each case to be tried separately so each bundle will be unique due to individual emphasis to perpetuate this scam.
I also asked for all notes, minutes, reports, e-mails including third parties on this case held by the BCA, insurers and solicitors, my legal entitlement. This is probably another breach of protocols and procedures. After all we have seen what that has meant in GCC cases so often. I would like you to include details of Dr Brown’s involvement which surprised me as I had not been told, or given my authority (data protection).
I networked the profession last year at the Royal College, UCA, MCA, and BCA AGM and conferences, and also spoke with several 30 year plus veterans of chiropractic. Seemingly there is potential for other cases which probably should not have got to court, or GCC, and then been lost. Such precedents do not bode well for our professions future with the ambulance chasing culture we live in today. This shows potential for miscarriage of justice for BCA members.
If the BCA cannot defend a chiropractor’s diagnosis, and have no stomach for the fight ahead, please let me know, and I will put in my own team and then start complaints procedures with the governing bodies of both solicitors and insurers, which would potentially lead to litigation to recover some of the vast sum of money this case has cost me so far, and damages. Obviously I would also put in a complaint to the Disabilities Commission for their lack of understanding of autism, dyslexia, and note-taking (or the stress of having to explain myself).
If the paperwork is not forthcoming I will apply for a court order. Within a couple of days of your receipt of this e-mail I will send a copy plus my thoughts on the subject to the GCC. If the insurers are not incompetent then the BCA’s members are seemingly 2 or 3 times more dangerous than the other associations, and either way it needs to be looked at. With help from the MCA/UCA or not, I will mail-shot the whole profession with a full explanation of my concerns and results of my comparative study of BCA vs MCA insurers and solicitors over the past 18 months. An interesting read. I believe that the MCA had a report supporting Dr Taylor within 3 months. Then setting up an e-mail hotline for chiropractors who feel they have been treated unjustly by GCC/courts/ Associations back to the Singh case and the carnage afterwards. I say none of this as a threat but one way or another the truth will come out.
My preference has always been to work within, and if needs be improve the system, but there is always another way to skin a cat. I am short staffed due to this case, and Dr Taylor is on holiday with my grand-children. My practice manager is just recovering from major surgery and on limited hours. I am also writing my last series of letters on behalf of Child X and will have no time to discuss this for 2 weeks (14th June). This should give you plenty of time to respond, as to how the BCA would like to move forward, after all I did a full case review and responded to Stewarts Law last January in the same length of time, which I stand by even though the insurers have not been able to help.
Please compile my letters and relevant documents to show a full chronology, and then send them to Mr Howell at the GCC within the next few days. I will let him know in my letter to expect them.
Yours with regret,
Howard Lamb,
DC