Our Year Full Of Protests Can Be Found Here:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/A_Year_of_Protests_and_Demos_in_Videos_and_Pictures_2007.htm
Parents who have had children Stolen By Social Services and wrongly put up for adoption to meet government targets. Demonstrations
Across The United Kingdom
A Year of Protests and Demos in Videos and Pictures – 2007
A Special THANK YOU to Everyone that has supported ‘STOP INJUSTICE NOW’, Through out the Year. Also A Very BIG Thank You To All The People The Work Hard Behind The Scenes, The People You Don’t Always See. People Who Gave Us Somewhere To Stay At The Locations And Also The Information To Make These Protests Work An Extra Special Thanks To Chrissy & John for Their Selfless Hard Work! And Anyone I Have Forgotten To Mention! Enjoy Watching These Videos! More Protests and Demonstrations planned for 2008
Monday, 10 December 2007
Saturday, 8 December 2007
Whom did David Southall think he was helping?
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0669.htm
The spectre of poor Victoria Climbié has been invoked. Following the GMC's decision on Tuesday to strike off Professor David Southall, 38 members of an organisation called Professionals Against Child Abuse, many of them paediatricians, wrote an open letter in which they said that doctors would be unwilling to undertake child protection work for fear of reprisals. The result would be more tragic deaths of children. The same concerns were raised in 2005 when Professor Sir Roy Meadow was struck off by the GMC for serious professional misconduct - a decision overturned on appeal - in giving misleading evidence in the case of Sally Clark, who was found guilty of murdering two of her sons on the strength (or rather weakness) of Meadow's use of statistics. Yesterday morning, in a long interview on Today, Prof Southall joined the counter-attack. He was not so much defending himself, he made out in conversation with John Humphrys, as concerned for potential victims as a result of what he called a "campaign" by those who deny the existence of child abuse. He used the same arguments, couched in the same terminology, when I spoke to him three years ago, shortly after he was barred from child protection work for suggesting that Stephen Clark (husband of Sally) had murdered his sons - after watching him on a television programme. He was then, and appears still to be now, a man with a conscience untroubled by those who have suffered as a result of his actions. At the very least, errors have occurred in cases in which he has been involved, both as a researcher and as an expert witness, but he has never apologised. Families have been broken up, parents imprisoned, children irrevocably damaged by a doctor who has taken the Hippocratic oath to "First, do no harm". Yet he defends this collateral damage, talking of there being "suffering whenever a paediatrician raises a concern". Of course, paediatricians must put the child first. But is that what they are doing by rising to the defence of a second member of their profession who has been accused of having fallen short of professional standards? The focus of the reaction against the barring of Prof Southall from practising has been the case of Mrs M, whose 10-year-old son hanged himself. Prof Southall was accused of acting "inappropriately" by suggesting in an interview, witnessed by a social worker, that the mother might have been responsible. It's the muddiest part of the case against him because it boils down - in the absence of videotaped evidence - to one person's word against two others'. In that instance, it is relatively easy to feel some sympathy for a doctor just doing his job, however brusquely, and to feel - as Prof Southall makes out - that, had fellow paediatricians been sitting in judgment on him at the GMC, not lay members of a panel, they would have understood his dilemma. But the charge of inappropriate interviewing is only one of several for which he was struck off. More importantly - and tellingly - he was found guilty of having hidden notes relating to seven different cases. It is rather more difficult to see how, in those instances, he was just doing his job. A doctor who removes or destroys records cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be thought to be acting in the best interests of a child. Nor can anyone who opposes such a practice be accused of denying the existence of abuse. Of course abuse happens, and sometimes parents are responsible. I have spoken to some of those who are said to be orchestrating attacks on Prof Southall. None of them denies that children are sometimes harmed by those closest to them. It is shocking that, despite our costly child protection mechanisms, the number of children who die at the hands of their parents remains unchanged at one a week.
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0669.htm
The spectre of poor Victoria Climbié has been invoked. Following the GMC's decision on Tuesday to strike off Professor David Southall, 38 members of an organisation called Professionals Against Child Abuse, many of them paediatricians, wrote an open letter in which they said that doctors would be unwilling to undertake child protection work for fear of reprisals. The result would be more tragic deaths of children. The same concerns were raised in 2005 when Professor Sir Roy Meadow was struck off by the GMC for serious professional misconduct - a decision overturned on appeal - in giving misleading evidence in the case of Sally Clark, who was found guilty of murdering two of her sons on the strength (or rather weakness) of Meadow's use of statistics. Yesterday morning, in a long interview on Today, Prof Southall joined the counter-attack. He was not so much defending himself, he made out in conversation with John Humphrys, as concerned for potential victims as a result of what he called a "campaign" by those who deny the existence of child abuse. He used the same arguments, couched in the same terminology, when I spoke to him three years ago, shortly after he was barred from child protection work for suggesting that Stephen Clark (husband of Sally) had murdered his sons - after watching him on a television programme. He was then, and appears still to be now, a man with a conscience untroubled by those who have suffered as a result of his actions. At the very least, errors have occurred in cases in which he has been involved, both as a researcher and as an expert witness, but he has never apologised. Families have been broken up, parents imprisoned, children irrevocably damaged by a doctor who has taken the Hippocratic oath to "First, do no harm". Yet he defends this collateral damage, talking of there being "suffering whenever a paediatrician raises a concern". Of course, paediatricians must put the child first. But is that what they are doing by rising to the defence of a second member of their profession who has been accused of having fallen short of professional standards? The focus of the reaction against the barring of Prof Southall from practising has been the case of Mrs M, whose 10-year-old son hanged himself. Prof Southall was accused of acting "inappropriately" by suggesting in an interview, witnessed by a social worker, that the mother might have been responsible. It's the muddiest part of the case against him because it boils down - in the absence of videotaped evidence - to one person's word against two others'. In that instance, it is relatively easy to feel some sympathy for a doctor just doing his job, however brusquely, and to feel - as Prof Southall makes out - that, had fellow paediatricians been sitting in judgment on him at the GMC, not lay members of a panel, they would have understood his dilemma. But the charge of inappropriate interviewing is only one of several for which he was struck off. More importantly - and tellingly - he was found guilty of having hidden notes relating to seven different cases. It is rather more difficult to see how, in those instances, he was just doing his job. A doctor who removes or destroys records cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be thought to be acting in the best interests of a child. Nor can anyone who opposes such a practice be accused of denying the existence of abuse. Of course abuse happens, and sometimes parents are responsible. I have spoken to some of those who are said to be orchestrating attacks on Prof Southall. None of them denies that children are sometimes harmed by those closest to them. It is shocking that, despite our costly child protection mechanisms, the number of children who die at the hands of their parents remains unchanged at one a week.
Doctor's child protection warning
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0668.htm
A former colleague of paediatrician Dr David Southall says in future doctors may avoid working in child protection because they fear losing their careers. The General Medical Council (GMC) struck off Dr Southall last week for serious professional misconduct. It heard he had accused a Shropshire woman of drugging and killing her 10-year-old son who had hanged himself. Dr Martin Samuels, who works at North Staffordshire University Hospital, said child protection was not understood. He added: "We believe (the GMC) are not understanding the dilemma which us paediatricians and other doctors deal with in child protection. 'Pushing doctors away' "When the possibility of abuse or the diagnosis of abuse is discussed with parents this is inevitably going to cause upset and stress in the family." He added: "The problem is that doctors have to be able to raise the issue of abuse, discuss it and will give opinions that abuse is occurring in certain circumstances when in some cases, subsequently, a court decides otherwise. "Now if on every occasion that a doctor's view and opinion is then considered to be wrong, and that a doctor is then brought to task such as that they can lose their livelihood, this will have the effect of pushing doctors away from dealing with child abuse and wanting to discuss the possibility of abuse." The GMC had heard Dr Southall accused Mandy Morris - whose 10-year-old son Lee hanged himself in 1996 - of murdering him. Dr Southall had made the allegation in an interview with Mrs Morris about the safety of her surviving son. Public inquiry call The GMC also ruled that Dr Southall had acted inappropriately in some cases by keeping original medical documents on children in his care separate from their medical records. Lawyers acting for the Attorney General are now examining thousands of these files amid concerns that they were not revealed during criminal proceedings. Dr Southall has defended himself, saying he always put the interests of children first during his career. In 2004, he was suspended from child protection work over his role in the case of Sally Clark, wrongly jailed over the death of her two sons.
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0668.htm
A former colleague of paediatrician Dr David Southall says in future doctors may avoid working in child protection because they fear losing their careers. The General Medical Council (GMC) struck off Dr Southall last week for serious professional misconduct. It heard he had accused a Shropshire woman of drugging and killing her 10-year-old son who had hanged himself. Dr Martin Samuels, who works at North Staffordshire University Hospital, said child protection was not understood. He added: "We believe (the GMC) are not understanding the dilemma which us paediatricians and other doctors deal with in child protection. 'Pushing doctors away' "When the possibility of abuse or the diagnosis of abuse is discussed with parents this is inevitably going to cause upset and stress in the family." He added: "The problem is that doctors have to be able to raise the issue of abuse, discuss it and will give opinions that abuse is occurring in certain circumstances when in some cases, subsequently, a court decides otherwise. "Now if on every occasion that a doctor's view and opinion is then considered to be wrong, and that a doctor is then brought to task such as that they can lose their livelihood, this will have the effect of pushing doctors away from dealing with child abuse and wanting to discuss the possibility of abuse." The GMC had heard Dr Southall accused Mandy Morris - whose 10-year-old son Lee hanged himself in 1996 - of murdering him. Dr Southall had made the allegation in an interview with Mrs Morris about the safety of her surviving son. Public inquiry call The GMC also ruled that Dr Southall had acted inappropriately in some cases by keeping original medical documents on children in his care separate from their medical records. Lawyers acting for the Attorney General are now examining thousands of these files amid concerns that they were not revealed during criminal proceedings. Dr Southall has defended himself, saying he always put the interests of children first during his career. In 2004, he was suspended from child protection work over his role in the case of Sally Clark, wrongly jailed over the death of her two sons.
HEROIN TOT WORKER GUILTY OF MISCONDUCT
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0667.htm
A Social worker has been disciplined over her handling of a case involving the baby of junkie parents. Neath Port Talbot Council employee Tracey Lee Wood had denied charges of misconduct put to her at a Care Council for Wales conduct hearing. However, following a three-day hearing, she was found guilty of misconduct in two of the three charges against her and given a two-year admonishment. The charges concerned failures to follow policy in relation to child protection matters. The main case against Ms Wood was that she hadn't informed superiors quickly enough of her concerns, after visiting the one-year-old baby's mum. The committee heard how the baby's mother told Ms Wood she planned to leave the child with a 16-year-old neighbour while she went to work in a massage parlour. The mum said she was going to drink a bottle of vodka before work, and then retrieved some cannabis from the side of a sofa where the baby had been sitting. Janet Kirk, then deputy manager of the child assessment team, said of the incident: "I would have expected any social worker going into this situation to seek advice." Ms Wood tearfully told the committee she had felt her concerns went unheard. She said that after returning from the visit, she had tried to discuss the issue with Mrs Kirk, but described her as dismissive. Mrs Kirk, however, denied this conversation ever took place. Ms Wood also pointed out there had been serious concerns about the baby, referred to as Child A, prior to her involvement. She said CID officers had raided the parent's home on October 16, 2005 and spotted the tot about to pick up heroin. Because of this, said Ms Wood, the police had raised the alarm and another social worker visited on October 18. The child was staying with its grandmother at the time and the social worker considered it to be safe, the committee heard. However, Ms Wood pointed out the gran in question had mental health problems and was only looking after the baby while its mum was absent, thought to be appearing on TV's Jeremy Kyle Show. She said: "I was appalled no previous action had been taken on October 18." The committee heard it was the very next day - on October 19, 2005 - that Ms Wood was handed the case. She had been off with stress for four months and only recently returned to work. Ms Wood also alleged she had been bullied by her then manager, Julie Thomas, before going on leave, and said: "The bullying had got to such an extent that I felt suicidal."
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0667.htm
A Social worker has been disciplined over her handling of a case involving the baby of junkie parents. Neath Port Talbot Council employee Tracey Lee Wood had denied charges of misconduct put to her at a Care Council for Wales conduct hearing. However, following a three-day hearing, she was found guilty of misconduct in two of the three charges against her and given a two-year admonishment. The charges concerned failures to follow policy in relation to child protection matters. The main case against Ms Wood was that she hadn't informed superiors quickly enough of her concerns, after visiting the one-year-old baby's mum. The committee heard how the baby's mother told Ms Wood she planned to leave the child with a 16-year-old neighbour while she went to work in a massage parlour. The mum said she was going to drink a bottle of vodka before work, and then retrieved some cannabis from the side of a sofa where the baby had been sitting. Janet Kirk, then deputy manager of the child assessment team, said of the incident: "I would have expected any social worker going into this situation to seek advice." Ms Wood tearfully told the committee she had felt her concerns went unheard. She said that after returning from the visit, she had tried to discuss the issue with Mrs Kirk, but described her as dismissive. Mrs Kirk, however, denied this conversation ever took place. Ms Wood also pointed out there had been serious concerns about the baby, referred to as Child A, prior to her involvement. She said CID officers had raided the parent's home on October 16, 2005 and spotted the tot about to pick up heroin. Because of this, said Ms Wood, the police had raised the alarm and another social worker visited on October 18. The child was staying with its grandmother at the time and the social worker considered it to be safe, the committee heard. However, Ms Wood pointed out the gran in question had mental health problems and was only looking after the baby while its mum was absent, thought to be appearing on TV's Jeremy Kyle Show. She said: "I was appalled no previous action had been taken on October 18." The committee heard it was the very next day - on October 19, 2005 - that Ms Wood was handed the case. She had been off with stress for four months and only recently returned to work. Ms Wood also alleged she had been bullied by her then manager, Julie Thomas, before going on leave, and said: "The bullying had got to such an extent that I felt suicidal."
The doctor who destroyed families: Southall struck off for accusing parents of killing their children
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0666.htm
Paediatrician David Southall was yesterday struck off the medical register after twice accusing parents of murdering their children. He claimed one mother drugged and hanged her ten-year-old son with a belt, and he infamously interfered in the case of solicitor Sally Clark, accusing her husband of killing their two sons on the strength of a television documentary. Yesterday his high-flying career was in ruins after he was barred from medical practice with immediate effect, and castigated for his complete failure to apologise and his "deep-seated attitudinal problems". "Your misconduct is so serious that it is fundamentally incompatible with your continuing to be a registered medical practitioner," said Dr Jacqueline Mitton, chairman of the General Medical Council's Fitness to Practise Panel. He blushed slightly and took a long gulp of water as he learned his fate. Afterwards he remained defiant and unapologetic, saying he was considering an appeal. "The decisions I took were in the best interests of the children involved," he said. Southall, 59, has gained international renown for groundbreaking research during his career, which took in the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke, the Royal Brompton in London and hospitals in Wales, the Home Counties, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley. He had already been suspended from child protection work in 2004 over his "high-handed intervention" in the Sally Clark case. He was called before the GMC again over a further series of allegations, which were found proven last month. Five mothers whom he wrongly accused of deliberately hurting, and in one case killing, their children, gave evidence to the hearin Their accounts gave a chilling insight into the consequences of so-called "sleep study" tests that he conducted on 4,500 of his young patients during the eighties and nineties. Police forces in the Midlands, Wales and London are investigating if children were inadvertently harmed or may have died during his experiments, where patients were allegedly deprived of oxygen and given small amounts of carbon dioxide, ostensibly to find the cause of cot death. Here, SUE REID reports on those five tragic cases... BEN MCLEAN Ben was three when his smiling picture appeared in a fundraising brochure for Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he was being treated for an illness affecting his breathing. He was a bright child and was expected to recover and lead a normal life. Today he is 21, goes to a special school and struggles to say a few simple words. He walks with the rolling gait of a drunk, testimony to the brain damage his parents fear is irreversible. Ben spent a year of his childhood in care, taken from his family at the age of five because paediatrician David Southall accused his mother and father of deliberately trying to hurt him. The doctor alleged they suffered from Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP), a theory unproven in science in which parents are said to harm their offspring to gain attention for themselves. Today Dee McLean and her husband David say Ben underwent controversial breathing tests overseen by Dr Southall, when he was deprived of oxygen, and given small doses of carbon dioxide, which left him brain-damaged. As a result of these claims, South Wales Police are investigating his treatment by Professor Southall's medical team at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Dee, a former nurse, says: "He was a changed child after the tests in 1981. He couldn't concentrate. He couldn't walk properly." It took a year-long battle in the High Court before they won Ben back from care. What other tests were conducted on him during that time the McLeans do not know. But he was never the same child again. LAWRENCE ALEXANDER Lawrence is now 21. He spends most of his days in a darkened room listening to Radio 4. He cannot eat normal food and is 80 per cent physically disabled. At the age of 14 he was struck by muscle weakness which led to his body sustaining severe cell damage usually seen only in cancer patients after chemotherapy. Yet he has found the strength to search through his medical records and discover he underwent tests conducted by David Southall. Lawrence first became ill seven weeks after being born. He would often gasp for air and turn blue: signs of sudden infant death syndrome or cot death. At first doctors thought he was epileptic. At five months he was referred to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. His mother, Janet, recalls: "We were told Dr Southall, a cot-death expert who worked not far away at the Royal Brompton Hospital in Chelsea, could help Lawrence. He was transferred there for one month and Dr Southall began to insist on exhaustive tests. "We quickly became suspicious that Dr Southall was using our son as a guinea-pig and we told him that we were going to take him home." It was then that the paediatrician invited Janet and husband, Robin, to a meeting to discuss Lawrence's progress. "We found social workers from Kensington and Chelsea Council and their solicitors, sent by Dr Southall,' says Janet. "One social worker told me, 'You need help as parents. There is nothing wrong with your child'. It suddenly clicked that we were in a dangerous situation. "They were saying we made up Lawrence's illness - that we were deliberately harming him." Janet was told she must sign papers to give social workers legal rights over Lawrence's care. "I was afraid if I did not allow my son to become a ward of court I would lose him forever." Crucially, she would no longer be allowed to see him at night. Janet, a former nurse, was forced to stop breast-feeding. So was it then, as the Alexander family have told the GMC, that Lawrence underwent tests that ruined his health? Lawrence says: "I believe that my mother and father were labelled as child abusers by Dr Southall because they tried to stop his experiments on me. "We now know about the so-called 'sleep studies' carried out by Dr Southall. "What impact that had on my health we will never know."
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0666.htm
Paediatrician David Southall was yesterday struck off the medical register after twice accusing parents of murdering their children. He claimed one mother drugged and hanged her ten-year-old son with a belt, and he infamously interfered in the case of solicitor Sally Clark, accusing her husband of killing their two sons on the strength of a television documentary. Yesterday his high-flying career was in ruins after he was barred from medical practice with immediate effect, and castigated for his complete failure to apologise and his "deep-seated attitudinal problems". "Your misconduct is so serious that it is fundamentally incompatible with your continuing to be a registered medical practitioner," said Dr Jacqueline Mitton, chairman of the General Medical Council's Fitness to Practise Panel. He blushed slightly and took a long gulp of water as he learned his fate. Afterwards he remained defiant and unapologetic, saying he was considering an appeal. "The decisions I took were in the best interests of the children involved," he said. Southall, 59, has gained international renown for groundbreaking research during his career, which took in the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke, the Royal Brompton in London and hospitals in Wales, the Home Counties, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley. He had already been suspended from child protection work in 2004 over his "high-handed intervention" in the Sally Clark case. He was called before the GMC again over a further series of allegations, which were found proven last month. Five mothers whom he wrongly accused of deliberately hurting, and in one case killing, their children, gave evidence to the hearin Their accounts gave a chilling insight into the consequences of so-called "sleep study" tests that he conducted on 4,500 of his young patients during the eighties and nineties. Police forces in the Midlands, Wales and London are investigating if children were inadvertently harmed or may have died during his experiments, where patients were allegedly deprived of oxygen and given small amounts of carbon dioxide, ostensibly to find the cause of cot death. Here, SUE REID reports on those five tragic cases... BEN MCLEAN Ben was three when his smiling picture appeared in a fundraising brochure for Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he was being treated for an illness affecting his breathing. He was a bright child and was expected to recover and lead a normal life. Today he is 21, goes to a special school and struggles to say a few simple words. He walks with the rolling gait of a drunk, testimony to the brain damage his parents fear is irreversible. Ben spent a year of his childhood in care, taken from his family at the age of five because paediatrician David Southall accused his mother and father of deliberately trying to hurt him. The doctor alleged they suffered from Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP), a theory unproven in science in which parents are said to harm their offspring to gain attention for themselves. Today Dee McLean and her husband David say Ben underwent controversial breathing tests overseen by Dr Southall, when he was deprived of oxygen, and given small doses of carbon dioxide, which left him brain-damaged. As a result of these claims, South Wales Police are investigating his treatment by Professor Southall's medical team at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Dee, a former nurse, says: "He was a changed child after the tests in 1981. He couldn't concentrate. He couldn't walk properly." It took a year-long battle in the High Court before they won Ben back from care. What other tests were conducted on him during that time the McLeans do not know. But he was never the same child again. LAWRENCE ALEXANDER Lawrence is now 21. He spends most of his days in a darkened room listening to Radio 4. He cannot eat normal food and is 80 per cent physically disabled. At the age of 14 he was struck by muscle weakness which led to his body sustaining severe cell damage usually seen only in cancer patients after chemotherapy. Yet he has found the strength to search through his medical records and discover he underwent tests conducted by David Southall. Lawrence first became ill seven weeks after being born. He would often gasp for air and turn blue: signs of sudden infant death syndrome or cot death. At first doctors thought he was epileptic. At five months he was referred to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. His mother, Janet, recalls: "We were told Dr Southall, a cot-death expert who worked not far away at the Royal Brompton Hospital in Chelsea, could help Lawrence. He was transferred there for one month and Dr Southall began to insist on exhaustive tests. "We quickly became suspicious that Dr Southall was using our son as a guinea-pig and we told him that we were going to take him home." It was then that the paediatrician invited Janet and husband, Robin, to a meeting to discuss Lawrence's progress. "We found social workers from Kensington and Chelsea Council and their solicitors, sent by Dr Southall,' says Janet. "One social worker told me, 'You need help as parents. There is nothing wrong with your child'. It suddenly clicked that we were in a dangerous situation. "They were saying we made up Lawrence's illness - that we were deliberately harming him." Janet was told she must sign papers to give social workers legal rights over Lawrence's care. "I was afraid if I did not allow my son to become a ward of court I would lose him forever." Crucially, she would no longer be allowed to see him at night. Janet, a former nurse, was forced to stop breast-feeding. So was it then, as the Alexander family have told the GMC, that Lawrence underwent tests that ruined his health? Lawrence says: "I believe that my mother and father were labelled as child abusers by Dr Southall because they tried to stop his experiments on me. "We now know about the so-called 'sleep studies' carried out by Dr Southall. "What impact that had on my health we will never know."
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