Who would legal action be taken against in this scenario

[Miratea]

Imagine a child is clearly presenting as severely autistic and hits all the criteria. Looking back on reports, it’s obvious the child has autism. But the concerns keep getting dismissed. Eventually the child is diagnosed at the end of school. Not having a diagnoses contributed to an unsuitable school placement, and severe bullying in school including physical towards the child (documented), including hospital admissions, which meant to a domino effect and a lifetime of severe disabling mental health issues. Can legal action be taken and compensation sought against the professionals who kept dismissing the issues and against the school?

To be able to take action, you will need expert evidence to show that the failure to diagnose earlier was negligent, i.e. that the professionals concerned should have spotted it. You need to take proper advice from a solicitor that specialises in this area rather than internet randoms.

I think it was negligent. I wanted to know if there was some prospect of it winning

Winning what? Are you looking for financial compensation?
I would assume that the response would be 'at previous assessments there was no indication of a need for autism diagnosis'?

You may think it was negligent. You may be right, but you may be wrong. If you really want to know if there is any prospect of winning you need to see a solicitor.

The school, and other professionals, will close ranks and make it very difficult. It will be no different to when it was happening, just very triggering and hard to prove. The only people who would win in this scenario are the lawyers.

Been pondering this and would there be a time exclusion if that's the right word?
As in if op is meaning assessments re herself 15+ years ago would there still be records at the school to show evidence re requests and denials of assessments, compared to a dc in last 5 years?

You could try speaking to someone like Irwin Mitchell.

I can’t imagine any solicitor would really want to take that negligence case on though. It would be very difficult to prove the parents had insisted on the diagnosis but school/professionals refused to acknowledge it.

It’s not about me but there is a lot of evidence, letters and reports kept. When diagnosed, they ticked all boxes in their autism assessment

How old is this person?

Honestly this would be difficult.
You'd need to prove that he should have been absolutely diagnosed as a child ( docs ans school tend to close ranks and can insist that behaviour could have been as a result of different potential issues and they wanted to be certain in absolute diagnosis.
The bullying etc would form of a total separate issue ie you wouldn't be able to cite cause and effect there.
Maybe a no win no fee solicitor might take it on for you but it would be a long shot

I'd say you're on a hiding to nothing (I'm a lawyer as is @prh47bridge I believe). With medical diagnoses, if one professional says no but another would have said yes, but the "no" is within the realm of possible diagnoses, no liability. Even if you could establish liability, how are you going to assess quantum? How are you going to prove the financial element?

If you want actual advice on your prospects of success then you'll need to pay a lawyer who specialises in this area to review the evidence and advise you.

So my issue is that they kept refusing to refer for a NHS test for autism/diagnoses and saying the behaviour was down to anxiety, and blaming parenting. The behaviour was out of control and obviously autism. Not being reciprocal/running off/violence/screaming/sensory issues. In the end a private assessment was done and they ticked all the boxes for autism.

I think if multiple medical and educational professionals saw the child over a prolonged period and none of them identified or even suspected autism, it will be hard to argue that failing to spot it was unreasonable or negligent.

it does sound unlikely that the child was “severely autistic” if nothing was spotted. Speaking from the perspective of a parent of a child with autism who cannot function at all ion normal life and is genuinely severely autistic. A child with some communication or sensory difficulties but who can still Function in mainstream education would have been unlikely to be offered a place in a special school or much by way of additional support from a TA or CAMHs so what would the recoverable loss be? The failure to diagnose would not have worsened the level of the autism

Another lawyer here, incredibly challenging to prove. Speak to Irwin Mitchell if you are serious but i think you will be wasting your time and money

But they didn’t see them because they refused to refer. And after diagnosed they were eventually offered a place in a special school. It has lead to the need for mental health services and a massive deterioration

But surely if it's an nhs referral it's not just rhe responsibility of the school? Why didn't the parents go through the gp or privately.
Are you the parent? What do you want? Validation or money?

You also could have limitation period issues to overcome. Time starts to run on the child’s 18th birthday or date of diagnosis whichever is the later. You then have only 3 years within which to sue. Are you even within time to do so?

Who is the they in this post? Did the parent ever specifically ask for an assessment or CAMHs support from either the school or the GP? Was the child masking at school which is incredibly common?

This was my experience too.

Ds was dismissed as young in year and not considered a cause for concern because he was academically fine (passed GCSEs etc ) and not physically lashing out at peers or teachers. (He’s actually very popular with peers and staff) I suspect that schools prioritise the most urgent cases and turn a blind eye to the ones who cope at school because of NHS waiting lists.

He’s at college now and doing much better now. Sometimes I wish I prioritised getting a diagnosis but he’s doing well and found a path that he’d like to follow which is all I want for him really.

Is there something that you’d want to fund with the compensation ?

Autism is a medical diagnosis. Teachers aren’t doctors so cannot be negligent for failing to diagnose a medical condition.

I’m not willing to say who I am in this. They they refused to refer for an assessment. The child’s symptoms were so pronounced they couldn’t be entirely masked. Crying in class and needing to go home. Fall outs and couldn’t make friends. Behaviour was worse at home and it was filmed for evidence to show masking. For whatever reason they decided to refuse an assessment it has led to a massive deterioration in mental and physical health. They were suicidal by the time they were diagnosed. Support services are limited or don’t exist. Not sure about time frames but didn’t have the energy to fight it at the time.

Who refused to refer for assessment? The GP?

Yes. But they witnessed the behaviour too.

So the parents want to sue the GP? Does the parents have guardianship if the child is severely autistic? Is the child non-verbal?

I honestly don’t know who would be getting sued in this scenario or who might be responsible or how to go about this. It’s hard to believe no one is responsible so much harm has been done. The child was speech delayed, not non verbal but had issues with communicating and ran away/was violent during appointments and had to be held down. If that doesn’t hint at autism I don’t know what does