Heart broken.....health report is full of lies

@Matilda Yes! 
@thespiceman I know, it is torture! It seriously worsens or causes MH problems for a large proportion of claimants. Torture is the right word. I've just been diagnosed with Complex PTSD, and the psychiatrist believes that the process retraumatises me every time. Explains why I get worse every time, permanently. 

Have you seen this?
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/comment-seeking-claimants-to-take-legal-cases-over-pip-dishonesty/
I'd do it, but my assessment was 7 months ago.

@sue66 The government are well aware of what's going on. They set it up this way in order to discourage people; it reduces the benefits bill. Most of them seem to assume either that we're faking, or that we're "useless eaters", and wish that we'd quietly go away...

@Yadnad, agreed, but the DWP doesn't exactly make it clear. They should send all the appropriate docs along with the questionnaire. 

Also, I'm going for my 5th?6th? tribunal appeal sometime in the next few months. I had an original decision overturned once at MR. Having looked at all my assessment reports now, only 1 out of 7 was reasonable. All the others had major errors, such as missing out medications (I always give them a list, and they're all listed on my form); saying that I have no specialist input when I do (pain clinic, BPD Community Health Team for years, etc., stated on form with further medical evidence from them); that I said I walked half a mile every day (I certainly did not! I can do that... Maybe 6 times a year?); that I did certain exercises when I literally couldn't, etc.

Their opinions are often silly, and tbh I think they shouldn't be included unless the assessor is, say, a MH expert who actually knows what to look for.

Recording the assessments will help a lot, but why was this not done from the beginning? 

I think that they should have to ask the claimant about assumptions they make, before sending in the report. For example, I managed a part-time job for a while, but my physical and mental health quickly went downhill. I ended up in the hospital for 5 days of IV morphine due to a horrendous back spasm, and my mental health was so bad by that point that my GP signed me off for the rest of my contract (I'd already been signed off for several weeks that year). I reapplied for ESA, and the assessment report included the following little gem (I still remember it word-for-word, as it caused me to freak out for days): "Claimant was in hospital for 4 days on IV morphine. Long-term codeine, tramadol and clonazepam use indicate addiction, and in my opinion this admission was simply a case of successful drug-seeking". No mention of chronic pain!! ****?!

I think that the assessor should have some expertise in your condition(s), unless it/they are very common/obvious ones. I've had two assessors who had no idea what Borderline PD is, and therefore ignored it completely. Two others only knew the stereotypes about BPD from movies and TV - manipulative, want to hurt people, etc. - which aren't correct. None knew that ~85% of BPD patients are victims of sustained childhood abuse (often sexual). 2 of them wrote something to the effect of "Diagnosis of BPD indicates manipulative nature... She clearly lied about this".

Three of them clearly didn't understand the differences between acute and chronic pain, or didn't understand that chronic pain can fluctuate. They therefore discounted most of the effects of it that I wrote/discussed. 

One of them asked about any previous injuries to my knees (which I mentioned in the application because they used to be a serious problem, and sometimes still cause pain). I listed them, and told him about the Lyme Disease. I caught it when it wasn't yet well known, so despite living within 100 miles of Old Lyme, (Connecticut), and obvious LD symptoms, I wasn't diagnosed for 1.75 years. By that time I'd developed Lyme Arthritis in my knee, for which I had unecessary steroid injections, and then unecessary surgery, which  caused severe keloid scarring. The LD went on long enough that it established itself in my central nervous system, and I had 3 TIAs at the age of 23-24, 1 of which I didn't notice, and 1 which caused an episode of amnesia while I was driving. The assessor had never heard of Lyme Disease, and basically told me I was lying or wrong or crazy, then spent the rest of the assessment arguing about it instead of discussing my actual disabilities. Argh! 

4 out of 6 assessors failed to take into account variability of my condotions, or whether IIcoukd do things reliably. 

Perhaps I've just been very unlucky, I dunno. I've won every Tribunal, several times without even going into the room. ?