Professionals are demanding vast sums of money to write reports on clients that they have never met
November 15, 2011
Reports are being written all over the UK and probably worldwide on patients
and clients that the authors of the reports have never met. Professionals are
diagnosing mental disorders, ADHD, disability and are even making false
accusations of child abuse in written documents being presented to courts,
hearings, benefit agencies and even child protection conferences, without ever
even meeting the patient or client. These fraudulent documents have the power to
ruin careers, determine whether patients are entitled to disability benefits and
remove children from their families.
One mother told me that she was falsely accused of Munchausen by Proxy by a
child psychiatrist who had never met her or her children. Another mother told me
that her son had been prescribed the ADHD drug Ritalin by someone she had never
met. So how bad is this problem? Well, if my research is correct, this is one of
the largest acts of fraud and deception operating in our systems today.
Recently I published an article proving that leading psychologist and expert in
Autism Lisa Blakemore-Brown had her career deliberately sabotaged by the British
Psychological Society, when they chose to take the word of a psychiatrist who
had never met Ms Blakemore-Brown. (1)
Dr Friedman had written a detailed report labeling Blakemore-Brown 'paranoid'
based on the opinion of others and paperwork which Ms Blakemore-Brown had been
tricked to send in as part of her evidence.
In any other scenario the word of others would be classed as merely 'hearsay'
however when the word of others is used by a psychologist/psychiatrist to
formulate an 'opinion' in cases involving the General Medical Council, British
Psychological Society and the Health Professionals Council, their word is taken
at face value. In the case of Ms Blakemore-Brown the evidence on which Dr
Friedman had based his views was dodgy to say the least.
Five years on and this practice still exists, innocent lives are being ruined
after medical professionals continue to write reports based on the material they
read and the word of others. These professionals demand high sums of money to
write reports on clients that they have never met which are subsequently
presented in courts and case conferences around the UK and I suspect around the
world to determine the fate of others.
The HPC or the 'Health Professions Council' is a professional organization found
to be using these dirty tricks, when they are asked to examine cases where
psychologists registered by them have presented reports to courts and child
protection conferences without ever seeing their client/patient.
This happened when one of the largest cases to ever go before the judiciary
system was examined by the HPC. The case involved a young woman with Downs
syndrome Miss Hollie Grieg. Miss Greig had told her mother Anne that she had
been sexually abused from the age of six by her father and her brother. This
abuse was alleged to have taken place in Scotland where the family had been
living at the time. Shocked and appalled Hollie´s mother Anne Greig reported the
matter to the police.
Hollie soon began to disclose information on others that she said had also
sexually abused her. Hollie Greig´s allegations included the name of a serving
police officer with the Grampian force and an Aberdeen sheriff. See ref (2) for
details
Interestingly, Hollie Greig´s complaints of abuse were NEVER taken seriously and
NEVER investigated. In a report written by the police they admitted that at no
time were the accused interviewed. This meant their homes were not searched,
their computers were not analyzed and DNA was not taken. Shockingly, this was
admitted in the Police Complaints Report and also the CICA (Criminal Injuries
Compensation Authority). This report can be seen on a video shown on this
website at the bottom of the page.
Hollie Demands Justice The only exception to this was Hollie´s father and
brother who were interviewed. According to Robert Green an investigator
investigating the case it took as long as two years of complaints from Hollie
and her mother Anne, before the police finally decided to interview Hollie´s
brother and her father.
So why were Hollie Greig´s reports of abuse ignored? Surely it is usual for
complaints of this nature to be taken very seriously, especially where the
welfare of vulnerable children may be at risk?
Amazingly, psychologist Ms Carolyn McQueen employed to write a report on Hollie
for Shropshire County Council stated that Hollie´s claims of sexual abuse were
unsubstantiated. This was very strange because if no interviews were carried
out, then how could Ms McQueen be absolutely sure that Hollie Greig´s claims
were unsubstantiated?
According to a website set up in order to support Hollie Greig, a medical
examination revealed that it was clear that she had been sexually abused. The
site states:
"Medical and other evidence supported Miss G´s account and Grampian Police
accepted the truth of Miss G´s statement. Nonetheless, no action was taken by
Grampian Police against the perpetrators and despite AG´s persistence, the
Procurator Fiscal, now Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini prevented any police
action taking place." (2).
McQueen wrote the following in her report:
"Last year HG named further individuals involved in the abuse in Scotland. Again
no evidence was found on investigation."
It was later discovered that Ms McQueen had been asked by Tanya Mills, team
locality manager for people with learning disabilities in Shropshire social
services (where Hollie and her mother now lived) to review the case and make an
assessment of the psychological impact of the current situation on Hollie Greig.
This was because she was a vulnerable adult.
Mr Green stated on his website that McQueen was not the only professional to be
asked to write a report on Anne and Hollie Greig, Helen Ogilvy, an independent
social worker originally employed to help Anne get direct payments as a
full-time carer for Hollie was also asked to write a report.(3)
Now to most of us, common sense would tell us that the only way that any
professional could assess the mental health and capabilities of a patient,
especially a vulnerable adult, would be to get to know them and assess them
through many hours of study and observations. Hollie Grieg was after all a young
disabled adult who had been abused continually throughout much of her young life
by members of what was now appearing to be an organized pedophile ring. However,
according to Robert Green neither woman had interviewed Hollie. Ms McQueen
certainly made it abundantly clear that she had not assessed them either because
she wrote:
"There are obvious constraints on undertaking a psychological assessment on an
individual without being able to assess them directly. For example all data is
historical and hence an opinion on their immediate presentation is not possible.
However, drawing together information from case files and professionals who have
knowledge of HG can be given of the possible effects on HG of her present
situation, which can be investigated further if deemed necessary."
The above paragraph from Ms McQueen´s report makes it quite clear that Ms
McQueen had not examined or assessed Hollie or Anne at any time and yet she was
able to make huge assumptions on the mental health of both these women.
As no action was clearly being taken by the authorities or the police to protect
Hollie Greig, a vulnerable and disabled adult, from these people, Robert Green,
decided that if those in authority would not do anything to protect Hollie then
he would help Hollie to get the justice that she deserved by publicizing her
case. She traveled with Mr Green to a conference of around 400 people in Bristol
to listen to Robert about her abuse and also the 'so called' enquiries that had
followed. All details of this meeting and all information surrounding this case
has been widely publicized on an internet site set up to support and get justice
for this family. (2)
Much of McQueen´s report clearly focuses on the fact that Anne and Hollie Greig
had given evidence regarding the abuse of Hollie in public. At no time did she
mention the fact that this action only took place after it became clear that no
legal action was going to take place to put the perpetrators behind bars. Mr
Green told me that the only reason that he decided to take this drastic step was
to bring Hollie´s abusers to justice and to stop these dreadful practices
continuing against others, including adults with learning difficulties.
Green said:
"Anne and Hollie knew that they did not stand a chance and therefore in order to
get justice and expose the criminals as well as those who were protecting them
they decided to speak about their actions publicly. He said that Hollie was very
angry and wanted people to know her story."
With Robert´s help this was achieved. However, as a result the authorities came
after Hollie and Anne to silence them even though they were the victims."
Without ever meeting the family, McQueen was able to refer to Anne as
'vulnerable' and suffering from mental health problems, even labeling her as
'paranoid' in support of an application by Shropshire Council for the Court to
consider Hollie Greig´s residence. McQueen indicated that Hollie had become
reliant on her mother and that she needed to become an independent person. In
other words McQueen appeared to be labeling a woman that she had never met
'mentally ill' in order to aid the removal of Hollie from her care.
McQueen wrote:
"Ideally the way forward is to work with AG and H.G to help resolve the trauma
they have experienced and decrease the separation anxiety and allow them both to
build more to begin to build more independent lives in the community."
The content of McQueen´s report was so strong in fact that it was used as
part of the evidence provided to aid bringing a court case against Anne Grieg,
Robert Green and others in a bid to prevent Hollie from attending campaign
meetings etc, whereby her medical records (sexual abuse) were to be spoken about
in public. This was despite Hollie Greig (an adult in the eyes of the law)
making her feelings very clear that she wanted to attend these meetings and
speak out against her abusers.
Green told me that he was certain that the report was written in a bid to
separate Anne from her daughter and to silence them both. He said that Anne
believed that this was to protect the abusers.
In fact Mr Green felt so strongly about McQueen writing such a damning report
about Anne and Hollie, without ever meeting either of them, that he wrote to the
HPC reporting her as being unfit to practice. However, like thousands of other
cases being reported to governing bodies against professionals using this method
as evidence in court cases, hearings and child protection, her complaint fell on
deaf ears. The HPC wrote this in a letter Robert Green as the final result:
Decision
"The decision of the Committee is that there is no case to answer. Accordingly,
no further action will be taken by the HPC in respect of the allegation(s)."
This was exactly the same decision made in the case of Lisa Blakemore-Brown when
she complained about the psychiatrist in her case.
The same outcome has also been reported involving doctors employed by ATOS, an
organization that employ medical assessors to make decisions on disability
allowances and payouts to victims of adverse reactions to vaccines.
Jonathan R Shaw (Minister of State (Disabled People), Regional Affairs; Chatham
and Aylesford, Labour) says:
"The approved health care professionals' (HCPs) role is to carry out an
assessment of the functional effects of the customer's disabling condition, and
to utilize the information gathered to provide the decision maker with an
impartial and independent assessment.
Atos doctors must be fully registered with the General Medical Council without
current or previous restrictions, conditions or warnings and hold a license to
practice from the date the GMC issues licenses. In addition they must have at
least three years post full registration (GMC or EFA European Economic Area
equivalent) experience as a minimum. Alternatively for non EU graduates three
years post full registration experience in the doctor´s native country is
required. In individual cases, solely at the discretion of the CMA, the
requirements that no conditions or warnings be attached to registration and that
the doctor must have a minimum of three years post registration experience, may
be waived." (4)
Despite the above however, in the first 6 months of this year 39 cases were
brought to the attention of ATOS and 26 GMC registered docs were reported to the
GMC in connection with their employment. None of these cases progressed to a
Fitness to Practice Hearing.
The above information was gained after submitting a letter to the Freedom of
Information request. The FOI request states:
"Please note that these 39 enquiries include some in which the word ´ATOS´ is
mentioned but where the actions of ATOS or that of doctors employed by ATOS is
incidental to the primary complaint. By interrogating our case management
further in respect of these complaints, I have therefore determined that of the
39 enquiries identified above 26 specifically relate to complaints made against
GMC registered doctors as a direct result of their employment with ATOS. None of
these enquiries have proceeded to Fitness to Practice Panel hearing."
I have been told by one mother that she knows of many parents complaining about
doctors employed by ATOS who have written reports on their children without ever
meeting them.
This is borne out by a posting on a Mental Health Forum. (5)
Contributor said:
Quote contributors own spelling
"hi
i am struggling under pressure hugely at the moment. i have been suffering from
severe depression and anxiety for over 6 years and am under the cmht with a care
co ordinator and support worker. i also suffer from alcoholism and am currently
3 months clean. i went to the esa assessment and failed. i scored 0 points
despite suffering from severe anxiety stuttering and being alcohol dependent. i
am not able to leave the house unless i go out with someone i attend support
groups through two different mental health depts, one a day hospital and one a
support centre. i drive there but i know there is going to be a support worker
at the other end when i arrive. Despite all this they scored me 0. i then
appealed, i sent in letters of support from my psychiatrist my key worker from
the day hospital and a letter from my care coordinator. Despite all this a
person who had never met me decided they agreed with the first decision and said
i was fit for work."
For those who are unsure of what an ESA assessment is, mentioned in the above
comment, the ESA or Employment Support Allowance is a new benefit replacing the
former Incapacity Benefit.
On another blog (6) a poster wrote:
"There´s thousands upon thousands of adverse opinions regarding ATOS on dozens
of blogs and forums, Thousands of vitriolic comments denouncing ATOS as corrupt,
accusing them of fabricating medical reports on behalf of the DWP.
Another poster says:
"A desensitized version of my disturbing and damning research report appears on
my website and you´ll see how bad it gets once you´ve accessed 9 months of
research following a home visit by an AH doctor who produced a bogus report,
claiming to have examined me when no examination had taken place. I think the
penny has finally dropped with Atos that this is against the law and a breach of
medical ethics, and the young man concerned is being investigated now by the
GMC. All medicals by Atos have NO public accountability according to both the
GMC & Healthcare"
Finally, I am going to mention one more organization using professionals paid to
write very detailed reports on clients that they never meet. This organization
is called the VDPU or Vaccine Damage Payments Unit. The VDPU was set up to
assess individuals claiming that they have been adversely affected by a vaccine
recommended by the UK government.
The VDPU use assessors to assess the claims of any individual who believes that
they have been vaccine damaged. Wendy Stephen is the mother of Katie Stephen.
Katie became seriously ill and was left profoundly deaf in one ear after being
given the Pluserix vaccine, an MMR vaccine now banned in the UK. Mrs. Stephen
said:
"Katie has applied and been refused by the VDPU for compensation in total 4
times. She has been advised that her claim has been assessed/re-examined a total
of 5 times by /healthcare practitioners/medical advisers. We have had no
communication at all with these individuals, have never been provided with a
copy of the actual reports compiled by the medical advisers for the VDPU and at
no time has Katie been interviewed or examined in person. We have no details at
all re the individuals who have carried out the assessments. We don't know if
it's been the same individual throughout or if a different individual has been
involved at each referral. We are aware of the one time when the VDPU
specifically advised us that they were intending to have her claim reassessed
with by a "different" healthcare provider, other than that we have no
information whatsoever."
A few days we learned that yet another appeal failed to get the financial
entitlement that this young woman is owed. Once again the decision was decided
on a fraudulent report submitted by a VDPU assessor that has never met, examined
or interviewed this young lady.
It is about time that professionals who write bogus reports on people that they
have never met were held accountable. According to evidence I have found many of
these professionals are paid as much as £2000 plus for their reports. This is
taking money by deception and is therefore fraudulent. These reports are being
presented to courts as genuine and affect the lives of real people. The victims
of these fraudulent reports often lose their careers, children and money owed to
them as a consequence. The actions of these professionals is despicable and the
sooner this practice is stamped out the better. These reports have the power to
diagnose mental illness and degree of disability. They have the power to decide
those entitled to benefits and whether children should be taken away from their
families and put in care or placed for adoption. It is vital that this practice
is ended and it be made illegal for professionals to write a report on someone
they have not met or assessed. False statements can lead to false imprisonment
and those who entitled to benefits to go hungry.
References
1.
The truth of what lay behind the attempted assassination of Lisa Blakemore-Brown´s
career
2. Hollie Demands
Justice website
3.
Robert Green´s blog
4.
Jonathon A Shaw
5.
Mental Health Forum
6.
Margaret McCartney´s blog a forum for healthcare policy