Ignoring court orders by ex and doctors - as easy as that?

[Angelwoes]

I'm in a really horrible process at court trying to protect my young child. My ex has alcohol and mental health issues. He was ordered by the court to get a lifetime summary of his alcohol/mental health from a medical doctor. The doctor has hidden the information - saying only that he's not had any major issues for a while in a one-line letter. The doctors surgery and the doctor was written to with copies of the order and they have just ignored it.

I've spoken to NHS England and the GMC who both say they don't deal with this as it's not a patient complaining about medical care. It seems that doctors can just willfully ignore court orders and there is no where to go to get the information. On a similar note, my ex has ignored every single court-ordered request/deadline and tried to get out of every single one but the never acknowledge it nor penalise him for it. It's all documented . . is there anyone/anywhere I can take these issues to to get justice and the right information about how unstable my ex is? I am astounded that a medical doctor can effectively do as he pleases. Hoping someone has some experience or can advise?

[Hecticlifeanddrowning8]

I think that's fair enough tbh. As long as his doctor thinks he is stable atm and not a risk to the child it breaches confidentiality for the doctor to send all info without his permission. If the judge accepts this then the only thing you can do is ask for alcohol tests (hair strand tests etc) .

[Angelwoes]

He's still mysteriously on sickness benefit and has been "unable to work" for 5 years . . so there is something going on. Plus his mental health conditions are such that they would affect a child's welfare and can't just be erased (threatening suicide and an ongoing personality disorder). Surely the court need to consider risks and take those into account rather than ignoring it all? I am amazed that certain people seem to be able to get away with murder in the family courts and no one bats an eyelid.

[MrsBertBibby]

What the court really needs is a report on him by a consultant psychiatrist, who would read his medical records and examine him, and then report to the court on his mental health, risks, treatment, prognosis etc. But that's easily £2K. I am guessing you don't have legal aid?

[NynaeveSedai]

As long as his doctor thinks he is stable atm and not a risk to the child it breaches confidentiality for the doctor to send all info without his permission

Not if it's court ordered! If the father wants contact (presumably) then he accepts that his confidential information will be shared with all parties. He shouldn't get to withhold stuff.

[Iknowwhoyouare123]

The court hasn't ordered the Dr to do anything, they ordered your ex to make the request. He's made the request and the Dr has responded to it as they see fit.

Can you imagine how many abusers (I'm not saying you are one by the way!) would abuse this by forcing partners to disclose their entire mental health history?

[Angelwoes]

This is the problem - the court asked him to provide information that would incriminate him, rather than ordering the GP directly to provide the information. Perhaps the only way forward is to insist that the court orders the information directly from the GP?

The request was meant to cover a specific time period up to now (he's in his 30's). GP's have a summary list that they can print off and it takes 5 minutes. If a specific time was ordered and he just went against that with the GP supporting that, then shouldn't the GP be in trouble for dishonestly/hiding information? My ex is highly abusive as well and I am so shocked that a respectable person would collude with him.

[Iknowwhoyouare123]

I've only known Drs be ordered to disclose information without the patients consent if related to serious crime (murder, terrorism) or if social services are involved and request it with definite relation to specific safeguarding concerns.

[Iknowwhoyouare123]

In terms of court orders that is. HCPs can disclose information without consent if they feel an individual (the patient) or someone else is at risk of harm but only the minimum information relevant.

[Angelwoes]

Surely it is damning that ex is concealing information . . because if there was not an issue and nothing to conceal then why go to such lengths and get a GP on board to collude? He truly is dangerous and unstable and whatever they decide, this needs to be factored in to their risk assessments and documented. It shouldn't be the case that people can erase bits of their life at will. Otherwise all manner of abusers, people with significant issues, criminals etc would just be granted whatever access they wanted to a child. Erasing a person's history is dangerous and puts children at risk.

[caroldecker]

Has the court accepted the report? They could say it is insufficient. It is up to your ex to disclose appropriately and up to the court to accept it or not.

[Angelwoes]

Not yet, but it is approaching the final hearing. They have ignored lots of important information about him so I am not hopeful that they will look sensibly at it. They will probably just ignore the concerns to get it over with quickly. I'm so worried about my little one . .

[Iknowwhoyouare123]

You've got no evidence that the GP is 'colluding' with anything. They have assessed that there have been no major issues for whatever period and they have provided that information.

I wouldn't disclose someones entire history without their consent without sufficient evidence that that is necessary. And the GP may feel that a family court dispute isn't sufficient grounds for breaching their patients confidentiality.

But it doesn't look good for your ex if he fails to provide what he has been asked to provide.