Legal-Medical Assessments
Do you have any advice to pass on to other survivors about dealing with the umpteen assessments and examinations (physical and psychological) demanded by MIB and your own solicitors.
One survivor wrote: My best advice is: don’t automatically agree to everything, but do be prepared to compromise. I now won’t go to anything unless my husband can come with me. So, he has managed to change his calendar so that we can both go to the next psychiatric assessment (the consultant is being flown down from Newcastle!); I have agreed to go to Bath to see another (physical) specialist, and he has agreed to change the date to suit us.
Another member now starts her consultations with all the things that she has found difficult in previous ones – so the consultant is given the clear warning, “Don’t mess with me”
1. You have the right to have someone present at any consultation to support you. There may be a good reason why a psychiatrist asks to see you alone as they need to check you are not scared to say things because your spouse or friend is present. If you do not feel comfortable on your own, you can ask for a nurse or assistant to be present.
2. One Network member was stressed about being told her husband could not be present at an assessment so she asked her solicitor to confirm this would be acceptable with the MIB solicitor.
3. Remember you are not the guilty party – you are the one who needs recompense for injuries incurred by the perpetrator, who the insurer’s and their agents represent.
4. One Network member went along with requests by MIB to see specialists of various kinds in parts of London which were difficult to reach by car. She found these visits so distressing and so insisted that the next specialist saw her at her home. This request was granted. Another one is being flown down from the north of England to a survivor in Devon.
5. Keep receipts for any costs incurred when you see a specialist. Also claim travel costs and costs for relatives who take time off work to take you. Sort this out with MIB or your solicitor before you accept the appointment.
6. If a consultant you are asked to see is a difficult to reach location, ask your solicitor to request someone in a more suitable place. Some members in Newbury found travelling to Bristol less stressful and quicker than going to London.
7. If there is no one to take you to an appointment by car and you cannot travel by train, request that MIB supply a taxi. Such requests by several members have been successful.
8. Some members have felt bullied or badly treated by consultants. Do not feel intimidated. Tell them politely you will not be treated in such a manner and report back your experience to our solicitor and MIB. Those of us who see these reports are sometimes astonished by their poor quality.
9. Do challenge any reports you feel are incorrect or wrong interpretations. Psychiatrists for instance are having to deal with a great many reports and information in a very short time and do make mistakes. They are also human and have biased perceptions like the rest of us. If you have a counsellor who you feel knows your situation well, ask them to write counter arguments via your solicitor if they feel you are being misrepresented. REMEMBER psychiatrists/clinical psychologists are not necessarily experienced in trauma or the impact of major traumatic incidents. Sometimes they are only experienced in writing one-off reports on survivors, NOT in treating them over a period of time.
10. Assessments written by psychiatrists about the same person often vary considerably. They often openly disagree with what another psychiatrist has concluded. Anything to do with human beings tends to be an imprecise science!
11. Remember consultants are human beings in all shapes and sizes. Members have reported that some have acted like sulky children when challenged. Don’t be intimidated – be polite, adult and assert your right to question and clarify.
12. Take your own dressing gown if you are bothered about your dignity. One member was given a scruffy gown by a private hospital and made to walk across a courtyard to a portable Unit.
13. Once out of the consultation, you may remember things you wish you had said or could have said more clearly. It’s not too late – send the specialist a letter or email.
14. There have also been reports of some really pleasant specialists who really do sound as if they are independent, even when working on behalf of MIB. Dr Paul Aylard, a psychiatrist in Bristol has been particularly praised.