Lamb Chiropractic Clinic Ltd

Howard Lamb D.C.

The Surgery, 48 Marsh Road, Pinner, Middlesex, HA5 5NQ

020-8866-3230/020-8866-8018

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21st December, 2011

Letter to MP Mike Penning

Dear Sir,

Re: Our patient C, Hemel Hempstead

 I thought it time to update you on C as much has changed since our last meeting.  C has been diagnosed.  This has taken over 9 months partially due to C being non-compliant but due also to Dr W’s constant refusal for a second opinion.

Mrs X’s legal team commissioned Mr John Hall whose CV and diagnosis are attached.  This diagnosis has him high on the Autistic Spectrum.  On a scale of 1-30 with 10 being the early spectrum disorders I believe that C was 24.  He is a very complex child who has had his life hugely complicated by inappropriately trained professionals with no idea how to deal with complex autistic children.

I have listened to harrowing stories of how C had been treated in school, particularly Rossgate Primary and Hailey Hall, and out and about at the world at large.  A classic example of this was at Rossgate Primary School when C was 5 going on 6.  The school had just failed its Ofstead and a new temporary head was put in place.  C at this age had well-documented sensory problems.  He was unable to speak to any degree of reasonable comprehension or understand basic and simple commands.  He was totally mentally and emotionally isolated and needed specialised 1-1 care.  The previous head has understood this and tried to help where he could.  C was refused statementing because he did not fulfil Hertfordshire County Council’s criteria.  This was perhaps because M had been labelled a bad mother and C a poorly parented child.

C did not interact well or communicate with the other children, and he stood out from them.  He was verbally abused and bullied in the playground, and I understand that his nickname was ‘Loopy C’.  He could not engage in class due to his dyslexia   and verbal dyspraxia.  I am still waiting for Janet Hislop’s notes some 10 months after applying for them.  Hopefully when they finally arrive they may shed more light on   C at this age.  However there is enough documentary evidence to show that C was a child at risk with very complex needs.

C was already on a slippery slope.  He was angry and frustrated because he could not communicate and was very isolated within the school as a whole.  He tended to stay with the dinner ladies where he was safe and where he got 1-1 communication.  The school had done the best it could but had no funding.  The new head was there to sort out the school and clashed with C virtually immediately.  A naughty child who would not comply, but in C’s defence he literally did not understand what she was saying to him.

Over the next 4-6 weeks there were many more clashes.  C would often hide in cupboards; he would not come down from the top of the monkey bars; or he would try and hide under desks and chairs.  On one instance he was dragged the full length of a corridor whilst being severely verbally bullied and abused.  He was made to sit on his own in the Head Teacher’s office, scared to move.  The list of incidents is long, and over time I am still getting more out of C.  His sister S is 2 years older than him and being at the same school she recollects other incidents.  M was informed by concerned staff as to what was happening, and this explained why C had been crashing so often.  C has never really recovered.

Soon after this they moved to Kettering and over a 4-year period with lots of positive help, through a good system that was put in place, C improved.  He felt more secure, and with medication C started to speak and good progress was made.  By the time he returned to Hemel he was starting to read and write, and was verbally active.  He had good school attendance and was beginning to come back on track.  This was only done by a huge amount of work and co-ordination by Mrs X, again well-documented.  Within 6 months of his return he was in a worse state than when he had gone to Kettering.  The chemical balance of his medication was changed and this helped destabilise him.  Again he was put into a mainstream school, and so C, because of the trauma of Rossgate School, crashed.  He was at Pixies until May 2008, and again left in the hands of Mrs X until January 2009, when he went to school at Hailey Hall.

During that period between May 2008 and January 2009 Mrs X was virtually single-handedly bringing up a complex autistic child who had crashed again due to the system, and she literally had to be on top of him 24 hours every day.  She could not work as she was trying to repair the damage done but without a support team this time.  I believe that your involvement started at Hailey Hall and that you are pretty up to date with much that has happened since.

Because of his wrong diagnosis I believe that C was over-medicated.  Since we have removed 60mg daily of serious chemicals out of his diet he has improved in leaps and bounds.  That was over the August Bank Holiday this year with the help and support of C’s GP.  Dr W felt that the medication was suitable and so refused to help.

C has come a long way since I met him in September 2010.  He was depressed, suicidal, totally non-compliant in all areas of life, and spiralling out of control.  However we still have a long way to go.  John Hall estimates C as having the reading, writing and numeracy skills of a 5-6 year old.  Since the change in medication he has emotionally grown from an 8-year old to that of a 10-11 year old.  Due to the damage that has been done he needs to go to a very specialised school in Devon

I believe that Adrian Phillips, part of M’s legal team, has already contacted the Council regarding Education and Social Services complaints.  You are already aware of the involvement of Withers on C’ behalf regarding Human Rights/Abuse which has been on a pro-bono basis but hopefully we have backers to push this process forward in the New Year.

I have not gone down the medical negligence route yet as I am still preparing a full case study which I will publish through the College of Chiropractors.  I have received over 3000 pages of notes on C but much of the meat unfortunately had already been taken off the bones, so to speak.  However there is enough to show breaches in Codes of Practice to breaches in Law, and that Education and Social services just lie.

The whole situation is an absolute mess.  I believe Social Services went to foster C and keep him at Roman Fields.  Please see a copy of a letter to Adrian from myself on the subject.  C has been deeply scarred by the system that should have protected him, and being autistic it could take the rest of his life to recover.

C is not the only child at risk.  In my time of involvement I have met at first-hand and talked to others who seem to have legitimate grievances.  I have taken on a graduate chiropractor who will start on a batch of the 72 other cases that have been brought to my attention.  I believe that some of these have also been in contact with you.  I will keep you updated on these as we slowly work through them.

C needs to be in a specialist ASU school as soon as possible.  Any help that you can give in terms of putting his case to Hertfordshire County Council would be gratefully appreciated.

Yours Sincerely,

Howard Lamb

DC

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