Thursday 26 August 2010

A Case Unworthy of a Civilised Country




A deepening scandal

What sort of law is this?

What sort of patient care is this?

What sort of humanity is this?

He provides an update on Robert Lapsley and his family's frustration at watching their brother/brother-in-law/son deprived of the care and treatment he needs. It is a shocking story but, having considered the position Mr Lapsley and his family are in, I can foresee similar situations arising throughout the country, although not necessarily connected with epilepsy but with the elderly, or those with illnesses which cause mental confusion.

Nicola Sturgeon may not be able to intervene in individual cases but surely she can pass the correspondence to Kenny MacAskill requesting an urgent review of our Court procedures for Adult and Incapacity Orders. Guardianship cases should take precedent over criminal cases but that is not how the law stands at present. We need it changed now and also, as Kenneth Roy states, a review of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act following close behind.

I'm going to attempt to set up a Facebook page to highlight this flaw in our justice system. This case needs a wider audience so please help.

6 comments:

Dramfineday said...

Where does the office of the public Guardioan fit into this? They are Falkirk based

subrosa said...

I don't know Dram. I'm hoping someone can explain.

McGonagall said...

This is awful. What a shambles health care in Scotland has become. I'd like to know what the diagnosis is for this poor man - having worked for years with folks with epilepsy I've never seen one go down hill that fast and that far. There are a lot of effective medications and in extreme cases there's partial or complete corpus callosotomy.

I'm thinking there's more to this man's condition than epilepsy.

subrosa said...

McGonagall ,I can only quote what Kenneth Roy knows and I'm not in a position to say anything about epilepsy. What I have assessed is that this man's treatment has been dreadful and he's not been given the appropriate treatment for his condition according to an expert.

I would like the blogosphere to highlight this case because, as you say, there's more to it, although with the help of the Scottish Review now the social work department have backed off. Without Kenneth Roy's help where would the family be?

In my opinion Kenneth Roy wouldn't take up a case like this without thoroughly investigating it beforehand.

McGonagall said...

"In my opinion Kenneth Roy wouldn't take up a case like this without thoroughly investigating it beforehand."

Indeed Subrosa. What I was alluding to was that the doctors on this case don't seem to have bothered to investigate it at all. Did the poor man have a stroke, or exposed to toxic substances, or did he suffer a serious head injury from a drop seizure? They don't seem to be interested.

subrosa said...

According Kenneth Roy's initial investigation McGonagall, the man had a reaction to his change of medication plus the fact his marriage broke down.

One expert, as Roy states, said he needs therapy, yet he's been left to wither in a hospital totally unsuited to his needs. Accordingly to the article he was moved but the care was even worse.

Nobody deserves that in this day and age.

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