To want to sue the NHS for not diagnosing Autism

[HufflePuffllePuff]

DC had full assessment at age 11, told did not have ASD. Assessment was a 2 years to wait, should have been referred earlier but school negligent and wouldn't refer.

Later reassessed at age 17 (after another 2 year wait) and told clearly does have ASD.

That they didn't get a diagnosis at age 11 (just started secondary school) has had a massive impact on education and has led to where we are now. No qualifications, no skills, no hope of a job, debilitating mental health issues, no living skills, spends most of the day in bed, won't go out due to social anxiety.

Now I can understand that in some people ASD is diagnosed late as it hasn't been picked up on.

This was though.

I knew from around age 2 but HV fobbed me off. GP said school must refer when issues started immediately after they started. School refused to refer until they were 9 because they decided he was immature and naughty.

Full assessment was done at age 11 but was told they 'didn't meet criteria' and why did I want a label anyway <side eye>. At 17, doc said he was very surprised at previous conclusion.

3 year time limit to sue is very close.

Would you?

i spoke to a parent of a 15 yaer old going through the diagnosis, the senco at her primary at the ignorance to say oh i knew there was something
for goodness sake, why on earth didnt the senco push the issue at the time.

@Ellyess could you have said ‘needs’ any more times in that post! It was hard to keep up with. I still don’t really understand what your point is, just that he should’ve been diagnosed sooner?

Did you accept the original decision at aged 11 or keep fighting? Not a judgey question but we were told at age 5 that our DS didn’t have autism as he made eye contact and liked hugs (so archaic) we kept fighting. At age 7 he got an ADHD diagnosis and we were told he was very complex. We kept fighting as we knew there was more, eventually at age 10 we got an ASD diagnosis. BUT even though we fought to get all the help possible, EHCP, children’s disability team etc he still had a breakdown due to trauma from his mainstream primary school who decided it was all behavioural and treated him appallingly which ended with him trying to kill himself aged 10. There is no guarantee that an earlier diagnosis would have stopped the path his life took, it didn’t for us. I don’t know what you would gain from suing the NHS I would put your energies into supporting your son and fighting for his needs and rights as parents of SEND children or campaigning for better services

i believe the london major hospitals very regularly reach the diagnosis when all other avenues fail.

Punching down isn’t big or clever. How lucky you are that you have no idea about the OPs very real frustrations and grievances. How unlucky that with all that privilege you never learnt to be compassionate, nor any grammar.

Just a thought, hopefully not unhelpful - could your DC have been masking? I was sent for an ADHD assessment around that age but I thought I was in trouble and gave all the "right" answers to questions, behaved beautifully as well. No diagnosis. Fast forward to uni years when I dropped out and was diagnosed as an adult.

But ‘understanding’ of autism has rapidly evolved to such an extent that it’s very believable that a child who is diagnosed now wouldn’t have been 10 years ago. Nobody was diagnosed with it when I was at school, a couple have had adult diagnoses but it’s not due to shoddy care or conspiracy to withhold help from people. People are so used to the health system and government being all things to all people that they won’t accept sometimes there are limitations which are not the same as ‘failings’.

You absolutely sue. The nhs had a duty of care and they failed him. This happens to often with neuro diverse and sen kids its bloody frightening and the longer term impact of this on society and the coffers of staggeringly misunderstood...lifetime on benefits, mental health issues etc. When with specialist care snd schooling at a young age could have been avoided. If you don't take a stand you give them an opportunity to say its OK and it can happen again.
The only thing I would say is you probably could have pressed a bit harder or gone private if at all possible but I know its out of reach for many... I would be in the same shoes as you if I left it to the nhs but our battles have only again started now to get ehcp etc. Do what's right for your son and for his future. X

Agreed with @Moonicorn , when I was sent for my assessment little was known about how ADHD usually presents in girls instead of boys. 10 years ago the prevailing theory was still about flapping arms etc! I know this for a fact because my mum did a specialised course on it then (my sibling had suspected ASD but nothing came out of it), and even the mainstream/layman's awareness of how ASD can present is so much more nuanced now

‘Duty of care’ for gods sake can some of you realise how ridiculous (as well as incorrect) you sound?

Ahhh sorry. I meant 10 years ago the prevailing theory about ASD was flapping arms etc. My first ADHD assessment also took place 10 years ago and so little was known then about different presentations of ADHD, which is literally common knowledge today even among those who don't care/want to know.

Oh for goodness sake it would change nothing. Its not black and white you know .

Well if that's the case I was delayed for 15 years tull diagnosis

@Noangelbuthavingfun

'the NHS had a duty of care, and failed him...'

Maybe, maybe not.

There was definitely a duty of care between the school, and NHS to assess. There isn't a duty of care to provide a particular result., other than an accurate one.

Proving that the assessment was done to such a poor standard as to be negligent may well be impossible to prove, and even if it could be proven, going on to demonstrate direct causality and material loss as a result is going to be even harder.

My daughter has ASD diagnosis. I’m not sure it changes outcomes - the NHS pathway here stops with diagnosis- no help at all. It feels like parents just have to work it all out anyway. The NHS is struggling- months to wait for a CAHMS referral so you wouldn’t achieve anything from suing. Your effort is definitely better going into what can be done now.

As an ASD adult diagnosed very recently, I would say things definitely got better around age 25 with determination to manage things. Maybe if he can find something that interests him it will spark motivation. I hope it all works well in the end for you but suing would probably do the opposite.

No

I think you should OP. I'm cross for you. I unfortunately don't think you'll get anywhere but maybe it'll make them think next time. I work with undiagnosed children that clearly need more support. No diagnosis so no funding. It's awful

@Noangelbuthavingfun I COMPLETELY AGREE. I see it firsthand Monday-friday

When you sue the NHS it's like sueing yourself and us if course. We pay for the Nhs so it's our money in a way. Also nhs is struggling as it is so go on hurt it even more. I had the same as you with my son so I get it but sueing is not going to change anything, and why didn't you get him MH help, if you were so sure it was more than just teenage angst. there are other options available other than waiting to hear what you probably already expected, from the nhs.
Sorry but I love and am very grateful for our nhs and if we all keep sueing them we won't have one, then what would you have done then.

@Noangelbuthavingfun "You absolutely sue. The nhs had a duty of care and they failed him."

The elements a claimant has to prove in a negligence claim are: existence of a duty of care, breach of that duty, and that the breach caused the loss.

You can establish a duty of care easily but fail to succeed on one or both of the other 2 essential components of the claim. The fact that a doctor did not produce the "right" diagnosis falls a long way short of establishing breach of duty or causation. In medical negligence claims, in broad terms you have to prove that no competent doctor could have reached the same conclusion as the doctor in question. That is a high bar in most cases.

Moreover, assuming that the OP did not have the funds to pursue a private assessment (PPs have asked this and I don't think she's said that she did pursue private assessment), then she would need to fund litigation. I would be extremely surprised if any law firm would take a claim like this on a no win no fee arrangement. The costs of this sort of litigation are high. More to the point, even if the claim were successful (which seems unlikely), how is money now going to help the child? Wouldn't the money which might otherwise be spent on pursuing the claim be better spent on putting in place the support the DC needs to adapt to life with the diagnosis of autism?

The blame culture that now pervades our society is, in my view, unhelpful to most people, of modest means, when assessing what to do about a problem which may be "unfair" but is not actually anyone's "fault".

No

People like you are completely depleting the NHS of money they simply haven't got.

What exactly are you going to do if you, your DS or someone else in your family gets seriously ill and there's no NHS?

Sometimes it just isn't obvious until they get older.

Support is always needs based, not diagnosis.

What are you trying to achieve?

Would a diagnosis have made a difference?

I heard today that DD (aged 15) has finally been diagnosed with ADHD. It makes no difference to her EHCP or the support the school is giving her, because they were responding to her needs not the diagnosis, and medication is contraindicated.

So if there was negligence because his needs weren't met at school that is an education failing, the diagnosis makes no difference.

And with conditions such as ASD or ADHD it is a judgement call. Part of the reason for the delay in DD's diagnosis was her focus and attention is probably far more affected by complex PTSD than by ADHD.

Unless you can show that the lack of diagnosis at 11 was so utterly unreasonable on the evidence that it must have been negligent, and that this failing led to the lack of support, it is a waste of time, energy and money for everyone.

The state of neuro-developmental and mental health funding and services for children and young people (and adults) is appalling. The answer to that is holding our political leaders to account for their funding (and therefore taxation) decisions.

Another relevant factor: the NHS has no budget for early settlement of speculative claims (because, as we are all aware, the NHS doesn't have a lot of money sloshing about). My best friend is a lawyer for one of the organisations which defends doctors who are the subject of negligence claims and says that the NHS will never settle until literally the doors of the court, or more often, after judgment on liability has been given. That locks claimants into a very long and expensive ride of litigation, with no guarantee of a positive outcome.

It is fantasy for posters on this thread to be encouraging the OP to sue.

No, of course not. Ridiculous post!