Denise Rawlins

I have created a group to join on facebook if you wish to join? the group is called 'disabled children dont have rights'
Please can anyone help me? I know that i'm clutching at straws but that's all i have left. Myself and my Daughter's father have been trying to take Brighton and Hove Council to court for nearly two and a half years now.

Our daughter Chloe had Rett Syndrome and attended Downsview School in Woodingdean East Sussex. On the day in question, 2nd of May 2006 we had been left a message on our answer phone to say that Chloe had been hurt by another child. The message said that they thought Chloe's hips may have been hurt, and asked if we could check them. When she got home from school, we checked her hips, but found nothing wrong with them. It was later that night when we went to get her ready for bed that we discovered what was wrong. Her left leg was twice the size of her right leg. It was only once we started seeing a solicitor, that we found out Chloe's leg was broken around 11.15am, so why did it take four hours for someone to ring us to let us know that she had been hurt. Over time we heard many different stories of what really happened on that day. The worse thing was Chloe was the only one who knew what really happened that day, but had no speech, so she couldn't tell us

Chloe ended up having to stay in hospital for six weeks, where she had to undergo a very painful operation to insert pins in her leg, this had to be done under epidural as Chloe always reacted badly to anasthestetic. Chloe's natural leg position was what's called the frog leg position, her legs couldn't be straightened as her tendons were too tight, there-fore putting her leg in plaster, wasn't even an option. She suffered from three chest infections in that space of six weeks and this was all due to the stress of having a broken leg. Chloe's chest consultant told us that he wasn't expecting her to recover from the last infection, and he gave her the maximum of six months to live.
She died ten months later.

We had started court proceedings ten days after her leg was broken, and was told that we had a very strong case for medical negligence due to her special needs. Chloe never returned to that school. The worse thing was, was that she had a one to one carer who was employed by Brighton and Hove Council. This was because Chloe had very complex needs. We were also led to believe that when her one to one assistant went for a break, someone else would take her place. On the day of the incident, the four carers including Chloe's carer all went for their break at the same time. The only person in the class was the teacher, who had her back to Chloe when this happened. Another child was able to approach Chloe while she was in her wheelchair and lift her left leg and put it over her right leg, so she was in the crossed legged position. To move Chloe's legs was virtually impossible as they were so stiff! The sudden movement of her leg caused her Femur to snap straight across, her knee cap was now detached from her Femur. They classed it as a floating knee cap.

Four weeks after Chloe died, we were told by our solicitor that we no longer had a case because Chloe had died. We were told that all we could do was claim for damages. We were looking at getting £10,000. Brighton and Hove Council denied liability and to this day they still do. Because they denied liability, we were then told that we would be going to court.

All was going well until May 15th 2008, when our insurance company pulled out. This was because our barrister who originally said that he thought we had a 60 to 80% chance of winning, then decided that once he had obtained the statements from the school that our chances of winning dropped to 50-50%. What i didn't and still don't understand is when did hearsay and lies stand up in court? We knew that something was very wrong with the whole case, when one of the teaching assistants statement kept changing. I have always believed that truth never changes, lies are what change as people can't remember what they've said. I was sent a copy of all their statements so i know what's true and what isn't. We were then told by our solicitor, that the only chance we had to go to court would be if we funded the court fees ourselves. We were told that it could cost us up to £30,000. This is what i would earn in my job in three years.

Our last hope was our local MP, when Chloe's dad and my mum went to meet him, he gave us new hope. He said that he would try and help us. For two months we were led to believe that justice would be done. On the 6th September 08, (last saturday) all that changed again. This time i went to see him myself. He told me that because it has never been put into writing in Chloe's statements of education, (which i always believed it was) there's nothing we can do. My other point is, even if Chloe didn't need one to one at school, she still ended up with a broken leg, which i believe cost her her life. It has never been about money, it has always been about that teacher being struck off. If it happened to my daughter it could happen to someone elses child. This is not about money, all we ever wanted was justice for Chloe.

Chloe's dad has given up on the whole thing now, he can't take anymore. I can't just drop it. I owe it to Chloe to find out what really happened that day. If Chloe had been a normal child, i believe that things would of been very different. What ever happened to disabled children's rights?