IIDB TRIBUNAL advice needed — Scope | Disability forum
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IIDB TRIBUNAL advice needed

i have my 3rd tribunal in regards to injurys sustained at work basically causing alot of problems for me as some of you are aware.
as ive a couple of tribunals i guess it will be similar for this one.

Many questions ive asked myself over the past few years as to the what why who.
assessments carried out at the supporting benefits culling depot of atos,capita, maximus i question the integrity of these as they do not relay anything to do with me and seemed to be fabricated reports of no award & my inability to relay information well at interview.

I think possibly what the hold up has been is the reports suggesting that i do not have any issues and making out im fine with the views of a short assesssment during a good variable period, and or suggesting i had the problems prior to my injurys and or theyre not as bad as im making out, and or being genetic in nature.

Ive tried to look at causes of my issues and find the following:
degenerative arthritis  is classed as wear and tear and can effect any age since i had knee trouble as a child i feel this is likely that i had it prior, family history suggest the same. age is of concern to me as I was 37 in 2017 when i fell from a ladder and seems a little soon in regards to genetics however age is of no concern to the disease.

injurys sustain small fracture to ankles, tears to cartlidge in the knee spinal back pain.

employment history Id state that ive always been a keen worker up until my 1st back injury 1999 things did slow significantly for me from this period on and off. My employment consisted of much manual labour on construction site's. as well as brownfield development sites linking one in particular that likely potentially killed my father with aml (acute myeloid leukaemia), from working conditions -(1997 swansea port talbot area. 2005 geological survey suggest high volumes of toxic substances) it additionally was had contaminated ground with high concentrations of benzene and other hazardous substances(casually linked benzene to aml).

some of the traced elements I casually linked to Osgood schattlers disease but im unsure of exposure levels i think  or quantifying the durations of exposures . Joint pain I recall my father developed alot of hip pain, potentially from the harmful substances I developed lower back pain. Im told one of the workers developed lung problems and two others developed MS.

My injuries apparently healed after the 1st tribunal then set aside after mri revealed fracture of ankle, then adjourned for medical evidence, this is worrying for me as i do not particular like or visit any of the GP's very often and it appears that i do not mitigate my circumstance to these dogs.
explaining shouldn't be too difficult at tribunal as ive pretty much analysed all of my current and worsening of injured parts, weakening parts, and fully understand the stages of my problems and how to balance myself not to aggravate.

the only thing ive been told really is, smoking is making it worse, lack of exersize,
id summise lack of financial support has made me worse moreover.

Mike maybe you should turn your hand to iidb, 'clever site'@mikehughes.



 

 

Comments

  • Cher_Alumni
    Cher_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,741 Disability Gamechanger
    edited May 2021
    Hi @boristheblonde

    Do you have a representative supporting you with these IIDB tribunals?  If not and this is something you'd be interested in, please visit Advice Local to find someone close by who can offer specialist expertise.  

    Also, I'm not sure I understand why Mike was tagged in this thread and therefore I'd like to remind you of our house rules and emphasise that negative comments targeted at other members is not something we allow.  Please keep conversation friendly and respectful, even where viewpoints may differ.
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  • boristheblonde
    boristheblonde Posts: 65 Listener
    Loss of faculty where can one view information regarding this? 
  • Tori_Scope
    Tori_Scope Scope Posts: 12,488 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @boristheblonde :) I'm not sure I quite understand what you mean by:
    Loss of faculty where can one view information regarding this?
    Are you asking what 'loss of faculty' means? Or how this might relate to your tribunal? Clarifying this a little bit might help our members (or us) to try and answer your query.

    Also, just to make you aware, we removed the latest comment you submitted to this thread. This is because the tone of the comment was poor. Please ensure that all comments you make abide by our house rules
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  • boristheblonde
    boristheblonde Posts: 65 Listener
    So I read loss of faculty is say lost a leg below the knee represent a % of an award of iidb 

    Thanks fully all my limbs are in tact and I probably don’t qualify though through my injuries and underlying condition this has severely limited use of these bodily parts ie both legs ankles and feet which seems to me as a loss of faculty.
    returning to my old job would cause a lot more problems for me.
    hospital could attempt to repair these injuries but they are of the mind that it would most definitely make them worse due to the underlying health condition that was brought about by my injuries.
    even so if the award was very low they do add up as a whole.
    it’s about the shambles of being robbed by these so called health assessments that I pursue this. 
    I’ve got nothing to lose. Tribunal is next week.
  • boristheblonde
    boristheblonde Posts: 65 Listener
    31,7,17

    So I injured both lower limbs in a fall right side being the more painful. Also mild back pain

    Attend hospital right side knee/ankle X-ray reveals joint space narrowing of the knee and nothing from the ankle in the area that was most painful, Discharged with soft tissue injury.
    q1. Could the narrowing be attributed to the fall?


    After a few more gp visits re referred to musculoskeletal 

    6 month later Mri to the right knee reveals meniscus damage tears and whole joint capsule in degeneration process cause of ongoing problems hospital thinks surgery will make it worse so opted against.

    left side feels better than it did but  6 months later but unstable knees / ankle causing more trouble and was worsening
    moving around seems to cause flare ups and instability certainly does exacerbate.

    16 months later  tribunal states my injuries healed 91 days after injury.
    Shortly after an mri the rh ankle shows bone cartlidge   defect discovered  on weight bearing surface.

    hospital reacts with talus injection 

    tribunal sets aside 91 days theory.
    and Adds direction for medical eveidence.

    the Ankle surgeon I last saw regards my ankle injury as being there prior to my injury. I’m not so sure.


    personal injury claim orthopaedic consultant (with a lot more letters after his name) directly attributed my injury’s to my fall and suggested the same to the other side.( I no longer have this person on my side as I accepted settlement offer)

    I honestly though the fall had caused oa but as I think on I have had other symptoms in other areas prior.

    then I recall toxic chemicals from employment 1997, my dad died after having quite bad injuries then being diagnosed aml acute myeloid lukemia.

    I question this and the more I uncover the chemicals we were exposed to can be attributed to muscular skeletal problems and the nasty disease that killed my father.


    Now for percentage rating what is it that has caused 20 years of lower back problems 


    neck problems 
    hand problems
    feet problems
    additionally now ankle and knee problems.

    ive pushed through the pain after being found fit for work 2013  but after my road traffic collision, fall from height 2017 I find I could no longer bear the pain it’s just too much I panic and get very worried about it all too much.
    i feel like I’ve been a prisoner in my own home since 2018 I rarely go out due to the problems it causes. Lockdown helped a bit cause I wasn’t the only one then lol

    althought more recently topical gel has helped more so hopefully sign I’m getting better….
    physio and hopefully get a mountain bike sorted to build my strength more.






  • chiarieds
    chiarieds Community member Posts: 16,007 Disability Gamechanger
    edited June 2021
    Hi @boristheblonde - I'm not sure I can help you here, as you as on the one hand you mention that you had Osgood Schlatter's disease as a child, yet think this can be linked to some toxic substances years later tho this disorder is normally only problematic for a few years, ending when the normal growth spurts have ended. So, as you're suggesting you had some previous degenerative changes prior to your accident, you're sort of disagreeing with yourself that your accident caused all of your problems, tho they might have exacerbated an underlying condition (which usually improves by about the age of 16 in males). It's rather contradictory, & I can't find anything that would indicate Osgood Schlatter's disease would some years later be linked with the toxic substances you mention. Osgood Schlatter's disease is also not a genetic disorder.
    This is not to minimise that falling from a ladder does indeed often result in ankle fractures, so you were fortunate to escape with soft tissue damage. I wish you well, but, as Mike suggests, you probably need a consultant's report to back up your claim.
  • boristheblonde
    boristheblonde Posts: 65 Listener
    Pah’s chemicals are considered for firemen so why not mine 
    polycilic aromatic hydrocarbons 
  • boristheblonde
    boristheblonde Posts: 65 Listener
    Pah’s chemicals are considered for firemen so why not mine 
    polycilic aromatic hydrocarbons 
    Your answer is here. 
    Can only expand from my earlier post and say categorically that your own opinion and feelings on the matter are, to be blunt, utterly irrelevant. IIDB cases require a very high standard of evidence and absent at least the one clear cut medical report in your favour then your case sits somewhere between “doomed” and “lap of the gods”.
    I’m sorry if you don’t like the answer or would prefer to argue amongst yourself but..  it is the answer.

    https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/archive/work-stops-on-10-million-swansea-sewer-scheme-after-workers-are-sent-reeling-by-toxic-fumes-tunnellers-in-cancer-scare-12-06-1997/


  • atlas47
    atlas47 Community member Posts: 238 Pioneering
    Hi @boristheblonde

    Thank you  for link to the article dated 12th June 1997, which appeared in the Construction News (24 years to this very day).  Are you aware of any clinical finding, carried out by say, Occupational Health Consultants or subsequent Class Action taken by the employees?

    Did the HSE carry out any detailed investigation as a consequence of this article?

    How is this article linked to your claim for IIB?

    Thanks in anticipation.
  • boristheblonde
    boristheblonde Posts: 65 Listener
    atlas47 said:
    Hi @boristheblonde

    Thank you  for link to the article dated 12th June 1997, which appeared in the Construction News (24 years to this very day).  Are you aware of any clinical finding, carried out by say, Occupational Health Consultants or subsequent Class Action taken by the employees?

    Did the HSE carry out any detailed investigation as a consequence of this article?

    How is this article linked to your claim for IIB?

    Thanks in anticipation.
    I'm not sure of the answers to this but:
    never had any contact with any Occupational Health Consultants, we were laid off shortly after the date in the article,
    I did do a foi act but drew a blank they had destroyed the file held, file retention of HSE 10 yrs?.
    after this date listed news article is when we were given chemical suits breathing apparatus, we worked on the adjacent  I worked with 2 Yorkshire lads and two Irish. 
    I recall pungent liquids entering the tunnel face without any ppe, I've traced the land history and we may have been tunnelling through ground beneath old timber treatment works next to oystermouth road & additionally another tunnel on kings road port talbot.

    I'm led to believe that possibly the cocktails of heavy metals and toxic solvents gases etc are a bad mix and could have potentially be linked to OA is why im trying to link it to IIDB.
    my dad began suffering hip pain at that tunnel, I developed lower back pain, which arose and continued from that job.

    I spoke to the foreman last year he stated he had lung problems, apparently two other developed ms, i told him of my father death. 



  • annmariescantlebury
    annmariescantlebury Community member Posts: 16 Connected
    i hope you find a representative . let us know.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,330 Disability Gamechanger
    i hope you find a representative . let us know.

    You've commented on a thread that's 7 months old. Hopefully the OP no longer needs any advice regarding this now.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.

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