Gordon McHendry
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HUNTLY
Aberdeenshire
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Observations on DLA Medical Officers Report
Page 1 “Physical normal man…”: Any person disabled by any kind of disease of the Central Nervous System cannot, in any way, be described as “physically normal”.
Page 1 “…germs from paints…”: What an absolutely ludicrous statement this is! It is nothing more than pure invention on the part of the M.O. This to me is nothing less than a disgraceful attempt to stamp a distinct psychiatric colouring to my case right from the start. “Solvents from paints…” is what he was told and what he should have recorded with proper reference to the Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) disorder from which I, and an ever growing number of other people, also suffer.
Page 2 “This is to be a record of the disabled person’s needs in their own words, (or those of their carer).”: What a joke! I couldn’t describe anything in this purely fabricated “Statement” as being my “own words”. Surprised to learn it was meant to be when the appeal papers arrived.
Page 2 “On my good days I’m able to care for myself…”: Certainly not my words - I never talk about “good days” because there simply aren’t any. Only less bad ones.
Page 2 “Even on good days I’m unable to prepare a meal…”: This was only added by the M.O. after he had read the statement back to me and I refused to sign it when asked because it was so wide of the mark. He asked in what way for example and I said I was unable to cook meals period. He said he would add that - put the above- and again asked me to sign it. I compromised and signed it assuming that it was nothing more than his snap-shot appraisal of my condition. Supposed to be a statement of MY needs in MY words? Ha! What a joke!
Page 4 “Indicate limb function below”: “Full function” is stated here period, without any kind of qualification. This is nonsense. We have all seen marathon runners sway and stagger their painful way over the finish line where every step is a potential collapse. Can they be said to be enjoying “Full function” in their limbs? I think not. If fatigue gets strong enough it can deprive anyone - even the very fittest of us - of all limb function. Having severe M.E. has often been compared to running a marathon every single day (and some say every night too). To award a severe M.E. sufferer “Full function” status for every limb and joint on the basis of one brief, hurried examination, in a garden shed, with neither prior knowledge of the sufferer nor the realities of the M.E. disease process, is nothing more than arrogant nonsense.
Page 4 “…but could be related just to lack of use.”: Even when he does find something he tries to just explain it away. This is typical. The same was said of abnormal EMG results by neurologist Dr Coleman. You just cant win with these guys. We are expected to believe and accept that under some psychiatric spell or other we simply lie around doing nothing for extended periods until we start wasting away. They said the same to all the unfortunate MS sufferers 10/15 years ago. Of course they know better now. But I wonder how many of those poor MS sufferers of that time are still alive today?
Page 5 “Please describe any significant clinical findings not detailed below e.g.: back/spine, respiratory…”: Makes no mention of my back/spine pain although he was told all about it, how it came about with a bad fall originally and worsened substantially by a bad car crash just outside Keith years later. Back has been particularly bad for the last 3 years or so. Also makes no mention of my sleep apnoea although he was told about that also.
Page 5 “Is the person safely mobile throughout their own home?”: No mention made of now long-standing clumsiness (e.g.: trip over rug, fall over dog/coffee table, stand on cat, etc.). No mention is made of bad/relapsed days where staggering and collapse is the unaided order of the day.
Page 5 “Is the person taking medication?…”: No mention of the whole range of beneficial supplements I take which help to make my life bearable ( see enclosed list).
Page 6 “Does the person need help or supervision to administer the medication?”: A complete lie. There is no other word for it. It is a lie pure and simple. I told him clearly that I needed constant help with this due to dire memory problems - I even gave examples of the kind of problems. Yet he puts “NO”. Why?
Page 6 “Is there any other therapy or equipment…”: Another strange “NO” here? The truth of the matter is that I need help with the following: TENS Unit (1-3 per day - M.O. didn’t know about this one back then), muscle massage (twice per day), Positive Offset Frequency Therapy (once per day), Sound & Light Machine (2-3 per week), Colloidal Silver Maker (1-2 per week). “NO” is just not very accurate.
Page 6 “Over what distance and terrain…”: No mention of “terrain” here at all. Probably because if he did mention it then he would have to have said something that may have been beneficial to my case. No hills. No stairs. Which are out of the question for me 9 times out of 10.
Page 7 “Give details of any likely halts and state the frequency,…”: Yet another inexplicable negative here - “NONE”. We both walk out of shed - him first. I join him outside and stop. That is Stop No-1. He gesticulates towards the house - I go ahead of him for about 5/6 paces to kitchen back door - and stop. That is Stop N0-2. He follows and asks me to lead on. I walk to back gate - stop - and open it for him to walk through. That is Stop No-3. I join him outside the gate and we walk from the back of his car to the front of it and again I stop and ask him how far he expects me to go (I’m in full view of neighbours now and feeling very embarrassed). That is Stop No-4. I walk about another 15 paces (the X by the dog in photo sent earlier) and complain of substantial discomfort by then (no mention of that either - why?). I continue until the pain and fatigue reach levels which make me severely doubt my ability to make it back without having to embarrass myself further in front of my neighbours by having to sit/lie down on the road - and I stop. That is Stop No-5 and this is the only stop which this so called M.O. sees fit to record. Why? After resting for the shortest period possible (about 2/3 mins) standing in the middle of the road I made the return journey in a state of acute exhaustion, pain, and embarrassment. On reaching my back garden I immediately collapse with my back against the outside kitchen wall, stooped forward, with both hands on my knees, reeling with the totally disabling symptoms. That is Stop No-6. I rest like this for some 2/3 mins. When I look up the M.O. is standing silently observing me. But, yet again, it get no mention whatsoever here? Why? We say nothing and I continue walking back to the shed to flop down flat-out on the bed for the remainder of his ‘report’ - exhausted, in pain, heart pounding, laboured breathing and, by now, feeling quite ill. No mention of any of that either. Not even a whisper! This man’s ‘report’ is a sick joke. Any shred of resemblance it may have to Reality would have to be, I am sure, purely accidental.
Page 7 “Describe any need for guidance or supervision whilst walking outdoors (along and unfamiliar route) most of the time.”: Yet another mistaken negative - “NONE” - for this question also. This is wrong. Energy/health levels are so limited I need to be escorted on unfamiliar routes (familiar ones too) because (a) I could only go at all in my push-chair and I would obviously need someone to push it and, (b) even if I could somehow walk a limited distance along an unfamiliar route I would in deep trouble if I took a wrong turning. I simply don’t have the walking resources to enable me to cover mistaken routes as well let alone for getting lost. For example, during hospital visits, if my appointment is far from the ambulance drop off point, I am always wheelchaired there. If it is a short but unknown distance for me then I am always escorted there simply because it is fully recognised that I don’t have the energy/health levels to spare on getting temporarily lost en route. I explained all this to Mr M.O. here - yet again we have another “NONE”? Why?
Page 7 “Claimed this was a bad day…”: Nonsense. Said the early morning was quite bad for a while but had picked up quite a bit due to resting up a lot prior to his coming. I didn’t want to be in a daze of exhaustion during his visit as its implications were far to important to me and my family. So I was in reasonably good condition (relatively speaking) by the time he arrived in the early evening - and I told him that.
Page 8 “Originally began about 6 years ago…”: Factually wrong. Again - don’t know why. Told him that it all started about 10 years ago. Was actually misdiagnosed as depression (or God only knows what else) for about 5 years! And there is nothing like a good bout of long term ‘depression’ for earning you a whole ream of psychiatric entries in your medical records! Once they get in there they colour absolutely everything from then on. And can you ever get them corrected?
Page 9 “Need for attention…”: There are 10 items here that have to be qualified with the statement “But not when bad/relapsed”. And I am only not “bad/relapsed” by leading a ridiculously restricted life. Any attempt to step outside unbelievably narrow limits even for short periods of time put me straight back into the “bad/…
Page 9 “Need for attention (cont.)…”: …relapsed” category. And here I need all sorts of help to do even the most basic things. The M.O. simply going down the form ticking “Without someone’s help” en masse is, in my opinion, criminally negligent, and simply not on. The final crowning nonsense of this page is the very last entry regarding “Get about in wheelchair”. This M.O. has put “Pushed by himself”. What? My wheelchair is actually a pushchair - and it is simply not possible for the occupant to use it by him/her self. Here we have yet another glaring example of the rampant twaddle being passed off here as a “Medical Report”.
Page 10 “Has the disabled person fallen?”: Another negative given here. Not true. I have fallen often. But never been seriously hurt by any of them. For example: (1) Shower - slipping - overbalancing, many times. Banging knees, elbows, or hurting wrists. (2) Edge of bed - leaning on overhanging duvet covers (I have two for the extreme cold in the shed at night) - hand goes straight through and down onto floor and invariably me along with it. Have did this many times. (3) Over coffee table several times backing up from TV - but have always managed to land on the sofa with just a scraped leg. (4) A couple of nasty ones struggling over to the loo from the shed in freezing icy weather in slippers and going down backwards onto both hands and a forearm. Pretty sore. Mild bruising. Some skin scraped on hands and elbow. Never any kind of serious injury I admit. However, a simple “NO” just doesn’t cover it.
Page 11 “Has the disability led to injury other than from falls?”: Yep! Yet another wrong negative here. There has been a whole series of mild burns to legs/genitals due to scaling my tea/coffee/soup into my lap. Sudden muscle jerks are the most spectacular - sometimes involving innocent bystanders! Other times it is just a unaccountable forgetfulness that causes it - or my growing clumsiness (moving too fast - or not letting go properly).
Page 11 “Specify any aid that are used…”: No mention of (1) Makeshift Bedpan, (2) Raised Electric Wall Sockets throughout house (and shed) and, (3) the actual Shed itself. My most important aid. Without it I would have to be hospitalised within 3 or 4 days. And have to stay there too.
Page 11 “Specify any aids that could reasonably be used if available.”: Nothing mentioned by the M.O. here - but I would have added the following: (1) Proper bed pan, (2) Commode and, (3) Mini-oxygen tent for head of bed - then I could move back into the house and sleep in my bedroom with my wife like a normal(ish) person.
Page 11 “Is there bladder incontinence?.”: “NO - By night”. So, I am incontinent “By day” and we are then expected to accept that it somehow disappears or goes away every night? To mysteriously resume again every morning for the remainder of the day. Ha! What nonsense. If anything the incontinence thing is worse at night.
Page 11 “Can the person cope independently with their incontinence problems”:
A simple “Yes” as given here is not at all true. I can’t cope at all when bad/relapsed (as previously defined).
Page 12 “Copes independently.”: Again - not when bad/relapsed. Which, without the constant imposition of a ridiculously restricted lifestyle, would be constant.
Page 13 “…could a commode be used unaided?”: Here he has made an obvious mistake. He has said “NO” when he meant to say “YES”. The man is so determined to say “NO” to everything that he mistakenly errs in my favour here. Truth is though that as long as I stick to that “ridiculously restricted lifestyle” I can/could use a commode (if I had one) unaided. Its the old M.E. Catch-22 situation again.
Page 13 “…is attention needed through the night hours…”: The straight “NO” given here is wrong. The picture here is complicated by the highly unusual situation of my having to sleep and spend portions of the day in a garden shed. I cant have wife sitting on the end of my bed in the shed all night - even when there is considerable need. But the need is sometimes there regardless. And, again, would be there on a daily basis without the discipline of that “ridiculously restricted lifestyle”.
Page 14 “Is the person fully mentally competent?”: The “YES” given is nonsense. My brain is a badly affected as my body. Both have been badly disabled by the ongoing M.E. disease process. I cant remember anything in a dependable way. I can hardly string a complete coherent sentence together with mixing up words, or forgetting words, or forgetting what I was about to say. I also confuse concepts (14 ounces in a pound and 16 pounds in a stone and so on). Mix one person up for another. The list just goes on and on…
Page 14 “Is the disabled person capable of maintaining a reasonable standards of personal hygiene and nutrition…”: Again the “YES” given is a nonsense with no basis in reality. Personal hygiene is always a problem because I am often just to ill to shower or bath and I hate being wash by anyone else - so - I tend to keep saying “I’ll feel better later and I can wash/bath then” until I stink and have to succumb to a bedwash. More often than not I just do without until I am able to bath/shower with some help washing/drying. And if I had to feed myself then I would starve to death or be hospitalised.
Page 14 “Is the disabled person aware of common dangers indoors…”: Aware - yes. But I can’t remember them. Electric blankets. Electric fire plugs. Whole range of computer equipment plugs. And so on.
Page 15 “Are there episodes of altered awareness…”: Yes there are. My brain often races out of control - a hyper type thing. Also a strange ‘autonomous thoughts’ type thing. Both these happen frequently if the nervous system is over-stimulated by too much time on PC or TV or reading a book. Or having to concentrate for too long. Or participating in a discussion or debate for too long. And so on. Additionally, I frequently get explosions of light and/or sound in the head - this does not happen in states of normal conscious awareness.
Page 15 “…the whole picture becomes confused with the mental picture…”: What “mental picture” is that exactly? He doesn’t say. Truth is there isn’t one beyond the psychological component that is invariably present with all physical experience. There is a psychological component to a broken leg - to a bout of the ‘flu. And so it is with M.E.. No more - no less.
Page 16 “Please use this form to add anything further…”: This whole entry is a complete disaster. Even the DLA’s best couldn’t decipher it and I think, like the rest of this so called independent report, it can be safely disregarded.
Page 16 “Was the attendant seen alone”: M.O. say “NO”. Again not true. It was just me and him throughout the whole charade. He ignored my wife on the way in and he ignored her again on the way out - beyond rolling his eyes on hearing I was in the shed. A final out-and-out lie.
The entire M.O. report is a travesty. I intend, regardless of how my appeal goes, to take the matter up fully with all relevant professional bodies as soon a time and health permits me.
Gordon McHendry
25-10-99
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