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hybrid77

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  1. ICAS are helping us with the complaint, we're not going to think about legal action until we've seen genetics. We've got our first response about the complaint (it's one huge complaint again) ... I sent recorded delivery and they've lied in their response about when it was received (statutory time limit to respond is 2 days, they took 5). They're going to do a full investigation, but need us to sign off on consent for them to share information with a third party. Is that normal? As far as I know, this is between us and the PCT, not sure what 'third party' needs to be involved? I'm so suspiscious of anybody now ... are ICAS really totally independant? I've been doing some reading and suspect the 3rd party might be MPS (insurers / solicitors type thing) ... bad Google! If that's the case, do we need to be getting a solicitor in on this now, or is ICAS enough?
  2. Just a little update. It's now almost 4 months since his diagnosis. GP has decided against referring to a specialist and paediatrician has decided the recommended tests are unecessary. Our younger son has now been diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss. The audiologist (in a different health authority) who fitted his hearing aids noticed some dysmorphic features (in both boys) and asked lots of questions about family history. He was shocked when we mentioned the ACC. Anyway, our younger son has had a brain scan and lots of other tests, but unsurprisingly anything going through our own health authority is causing problems. The audiologist requested hearing tests for the whole family, our GP ordered them for me and my husband (not the other children), but as we've passed he's put a stop to the genetics referral. The MRI scan results seem to have 'gone missing' or the people that can access them 'aren't qualified to discuss them'. We see the audiologist again in January, we're praying he's able to refer to genetics over our GPs head. ICAS have split our complaint into 7 different complaints. Is this right? I though we could just send a big one to the health authority and let them sort out who's responsible for what. I'm not sure I can cope with chasing up 7 different complaints. Our health authority has recently been slammed by the CQC, complaints handling was a big part of it, but a number of services have also been put on notice to improve (maternity, outpatients). Regards Hybrid
  3. I've had a PM with some info (no dodgy links, it's ok lol), but for the benefit of others, barristers can do 'public access' work. Going to search for public access chambers and see what turns up in my area.
  4. Only a small part of it is PPI ... it's mainly misrepresentation (we've had to be very careful not to get into the realms of fraud). Information commissioner & trading standards would have taken it on, but they issued the claim before we got the proof. It's taken almost 18 months to get the proof through disclosure, needed to go to court yesterday for my customer notes which is the final bit of proof ... they gave me them just before the hearing, then wanted wasted costs for the hearing which was only about the wasted costs. If they'd given me them when we first asked for them over a year ago, we wouldn't have needed the bloomin hearing ... never underestimate how sneaky they can be. Had a look at the 'higher rights' thing and it's something to do with higher courts. Looks like we'll need a solicitor to instruct a barrister.
  5. Thanks Jackie and Wayne, it gives me a phrase to search for that might get rid of the 10 zillion no win no fee results. Good luck with your hearing today. A woman in court yesterday before us was in there for a minimal amount of rent arrears. Her housing benefit is 75p a week short ... felt like paying it for her.
  6. We'd be happy to settle, their £11k cancel our £14k and we'll lose £3k, but they won't move an inch. PPI added when OH had no income (his loan) and they won't even move on that. The wheels of the big machine are in motion, and they want their pound of flesh ... their paralegal wondered if they'd bothered to read the defence! The fast track doesn't seem to be any different to small claims (been in small claims before) ... same judges, same room, it's the huge amount of money (huge to us anyway) at stake that niggles at the back of your mind. If it was next week I'd just jump in and get on with it, but I'm going to stress about it for the next 6 months which will make me even worse
  7. We're defending, but the counterclaim is bigger than their claim. I don't want to lose just because I fall to pieces in court I've never dealt with solicitors before, is there a special term for someone lower down than a barrister but who does a similar thing? I sound really thick, I know:sad: They had a paralegal yesterday, is that what we need? It's set for a 1 day trial I did ok yesterday and got my points across (our 2 applications got through, their application for wasted costs didn't, so I suppose we won), but the judge tried tangling me up (in a good way, to let me know what we're in for) and their paralegal rescued me a few times (can't expect that on the big day) Thanks
  8. Just a quick update GP is referring us out of area, and we're going through the complaints process with ICAS. Been in touch with some 'no win, no fees'. All of them say liability and negligence of the birth scan will be easy to prove, NHS wouldn't even deny it, BUT they all want to do a life time care claim. The claim would be the difference between his disabilities if he'd been diagnosed correctly at birth and undergone therapy / special education etc, and the disabilities he has now. There's no evidence that early intervention makes any difference. We're only interested in the damage done over the last 13 years, but the no win no fees see the big money and that's too risky. ICAS have told us (informally of course) to keep looking. If not, once we get through the complaints procedure and some sort of admission, we can make a claim on our own and go through county court if necessary:!:, keeping only to actual provable losses (loss of earnings, but no psychological damages). We have until he's 21, so there's obviously no rush, going to put it on the back burner whilst we deal with the complaint and some other stuff
  9. Hi all, Could somebody tell me how we go about getting someone to represent us in a hearing? We have an ongoing case with x- big bank -x, very complicated (misrepresentation, missold PPI, unfair relationship, no credit agreement blah blah blah ... dodgy employee who wanted to line her own pockets). Another application notice and directions hearing yesterday, and whilst both the judge and their paralegal were on our side, it made me realise I'm not cut out for standing up in court and arguing a case, even though I can do it on paper and when I practice. If it was a small amount, I'd go ahead, but this is a claim for £11k, counterclaim of £14k (fast track). On paper we can't lose, but in court I might mess up. Legal aid isn't an option (we get DLA for our son, disability premium on tax credits takes our income to high). Local CAB are a waste of time Do we just contact local solicitors? (we don't need any paperwork doing, just someone to read through and stand up in court for us). Haven't a clue where to start looking. The final hearing isn't until next January ('fast' track LOL)
  10. Hi again We had chromosome testing via amniocententesis. I recall the main concern being Turners syndrome. The results came back that he was a boy (Turners only affects girls) so I don't even know whether they did anything further than a boy / girl check. He's had blood taken recently for karotyping (before the scan results), if they've only done another XY check, I'll chase that up. Most, if not all, of his delays can be blamed on the ACC. The ventricles can expand inward to fill the gap left by the ACC, so them being enlarged isn't necessarily worrying. The gripe with them is missing it all on that birth scan ... if they'd done the scan properly (and I can't see how they possibly did the scan properly to have missed it), he'd have had support, early intervention and the situation would have been monitored, instead we've been made to feel like we're at fault for not bringing him up properly. Star charts to stop incontinence ... when we now discover his brain can't process star charts and the incontinence isn't even his fault anyway. I'm good at staying calm ... my husband is the one who's about to lose it.
  11. ok, I've found the number for PALS and left a message for them to contact me.
  12. It was Corpal that encouraged me to keep pushing for an MRI scan ... we suspected ACC because of his symptoms, for 3 years an MRI scan has been refused because there's no way his current difficulties could possibly be related to his brain development, after all, the ventriculomegaly cleared up. Everyone we got in touch with, even a research assistant looking into long term effects of ventriculomegaly took one look at our son, or read his symptoms and they'd suggest an MRI scan. His clinical psychology report shows some areas of performance at 99th percentile, others on 1st percentile, yet they decided the results weren't significant so no scan was needed. The only professionals my son has seen for 13 years are a paediatrician and clinical psychologist ... he was discharged from neurology when the ventriculomegaly 'cleared up'. There have been no follow ups at all for the ventriculomegaly. We've been referred to a neurologist now, and lots of other specialists (heart, eyes, hearing, genetics, ...) but that critical period for early intervention passed a long time ago. The trick here is to go on the waiting list for one specialist, see them then go to the bottom of the waiting list for the next specialist so it could be a while ... it wouldn't suprise me if the neurologist came last). If I hadn't researched ACC myself, got in touch with Corpal and some leading neurologists, and demanded the scan, we'd still be in the dark. The paediatrician has only been interested in the symptoms related to the Autistic spectrum. Anything else was irrelevant. He did check for hypermobility once. Our son can't stand on one leg, but has never been seen by physio or OT. It's as though 'he's not quite autistic this year, we'll wait another year and see if he is then'. Our primary concerns have always been his physical delays and incontinence, and whilst there might be links to ASD, they're certainly not central issues in ASD. I've checked our PCT website for details of PALs and can't find anything? I'll keep looking, but is there anywhere else to find them? I want to tread carefully ... our son might get some support now, he'll need to see the same CP, and we'll still be under the same paed. He'll be under the hospital now rather than the child development centre, but it's still the same consultants.
  13. Thanks, it's confusing the condition is called ventriculomegaly, >16mm (classed as severe), they weren't able to check for further damage until after the birth, hence why he was supposed to be born at the specialist hospital ... he was diagnosed with this at the 20 week scan. They had returned to normal size at his birth scan done at our local hospital Last week he was diagnosed with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum, and enlarged ventricles. Further tests will tell us whether it's hydrocephalus or they're enlarged because of the missing corpus callosum The Corpus Callosum doesn't appear and disappear ... that would be the same as being told you had no arms, them growing back but disappearing again. The Corpus Callosum wouldn't have been there on the birth scan. IMO: If they checked the size of the ventricles on the birth scan, the missing corpus callosum should have been spotted (they're right next to each other), especially if they were checking for further abnormalities as we were told. He has no symptoms of hydrocephalus, in which case the enlarged ventricles are because of the ACC (they've expanded to fill the gap), and they wouldn't have been normal sized at birth. The birth scan was done by someone without any neuroradiology training ... our local hospital doesn't do neuroradiology hence why we had to travel to see a specialist
  14. Hi, I'll try to keep this short My son was born in 1997. They found he had enlarged ventricles in his brain on the 20 week scan and we were referred to a fetal neurologist. We were offered a termination but declined. The birth was planned to take place at the specialist centre so more tests and scans could be done after the birth. Unfortunately, circumstances meant he was born in our local hospital by emergency section. They did a head ultrasound but apparently the ventricles were back to normal. We've been back and forth ever since, trying to get help with his various problems, but got absolutely nowhere. He's 13 years old now, but physically and socially he's a 5 year old. For the last 3 years we've been requesting an MRI scan. The paediatrician eventually gave in after I started emailing neurologists for help. He had his scan last week and it shows the enlarged ventricles are still there, and a bit of his brain is missing. The diagnosis letter says this is likely to be the cause of all his problems. We're now being referred to various specialists. There is no cure, but early intervention can improve the long term prospects. Our son is likely to need intensive support for the rest of his life. The first thing everyone has said is to see a solicitor, but is it reasonable? They know nothing about how it all works, and I know it's not as easy as going into court and saying the NHS did this, give me some money, but how does it work? I'd love to say it's nothing to do with the money, it's about justice, but actually it is about money. Last week, we thought our son might improve with some support from the right people, our lives could get back to normal, we could go back to working full time. Now we have to face up to this being it, our new forever, a forever that's very different because there was no early intervention. We can safely assume the scan in our local hospital after the birth was wrong. Or can we? There's no way the ventricles could be normal sized with the bit of brain missing, and bits of brain don't just get up and go on a walkabout. I want to make sure I know all the tricks they can pull before we get into this. We were aware there would be long term implications when we decided to go ahead with the pregnancy, but because nothing showed up on that scan we've had no help or support for 13 years. We've been offered parenting classes. Over the 13 years there's been at least 10 incidents that (with his pre-natal history) should have prompted an MRI scan, some of them should have prompted a scan even without his history. I've made inital enquiries with 2 solicitors (one local with medical negligence in their list, one found on search engine), but is there anything we can be doing ourselves?
  15. They want me to phone them to negotiate .. yeah, right!! ICO now involved over the DPA issues, we have a case reference number and confirmation in writing of the breaches. We've got permission to amend the defence and put in a counterclaim (£80 fee so presume that's with a hearing?). When applying interest, do we calculate it up to now, or to the dates they stopped adding interest on the accounts? And do we add 8% per annum on top, or is that an instead of? We've been told to do the counterclaim for absolutely every expense we faced because of this loan (eg, solicitors fees for the mortgage arrears) which should be easy enough to work out, but how do we work with the PPI ... it would reduce the balance of the claim, but because we've not actually paid most of it, do we put it in the counterclaim? And some of it was refunded to the balance when the loan account was closed. I can either work forwards from the start of the loan and work out the balance without PPI added, or backwards ... so confusing. I can write software to do the calculations, but I've tried it 101 ways and they all give me different answers. The bank charges applied since the loan are going in there, but we also have £7000+ that we applied for in 2009 and were refused. We've already shown that the unfair relationship over the loan also applied to the bank account (well, that bit of the original defence hasn't been disputed). Would we be risking, what seems to be, a solid case by going into territory thats untested? (bank charges under CPUTR) Regards
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