“As Jubair’s teacher I have always found him helpful and polite. His attendance is good and it is good to have seen him mature so much especially in the last couple of years. We have talked about his future many times and I know he is dedicated and eager to succeed.”
“In formal testing Jubair’s memory, including immediate and delayed recall, his attention, perception and language skills are all significantly impaired and will need additional rehabilitation input. On the other hand non-verbal reasoning (for example doing puzzles) and the ability to switch strategies are in the average range.”
“Jubair is able to walk to the local supermarket (approximately 15 minutes from the RNRU) negotiating uneven surfaces and generally demonstrating good road safety awareness, although he can rely on other people to check that the road is safe to cross over and has to be reminded not to do this. Jubair shows significant memory difficulties and strategies to compensate for this have been attempted such as writing lists and using his mobile phone as a memory aid. Once in the shop Jubair is usually able to locate ingredients using an organised strategy for categorising items required. Jubair is able to pay using the exact amount of money from a range of coins. Jubair shows good problem solving skills by asking staff if an item cannot be located.”
“Mr Ali currently performs within the borderline range on tests of verbal and nonverbal intellectual abilities. Compared to his estimated optimal level of functioning, these observations indicate a significant degree of general intellectual underfunctioning. He presents with patchy memory difficulties that appear to at least partly reflect difficulties with concentration. He presents with mild word retrieval difficulties. His visual perceptual skills are good. He performs inefficiently on tests of executive functioning, and also on tests of attention. His overall neuropsychological profile is suggestive of a significant degree of cerebral dysfunction, largely involving the anterior region.”
“Brief outline of the days activities Jubair stated he planned to take a cab to an office building in Romford Rd E7 to sit the Life in the UK test. We arrived at the building. Jubair sat the test and stated he had passed.”
“However, to be so consistent in his presentation on four occasions, if he was deliberately exaggerating would suggest to me a level of intellect and cognitive ability that I do not think that [Jubair] possesses. The more I have seen [Jubair] the more I am convinced that his poor performance on cognitive tests is due to his cognitive impairment, cognitive style, temperament and motivation. ”
“This is difficult for me to answer as I have no knowledge of the requirements of joining the police force. However, my sense is that a low average intellect would not be a barrier to entry into the police force. I would say that generally the level of intellectual ability thought to exist in given population groups is overestimated. For example a large number of university students have average intellect and not higher as might be assumed and after all, low average is just that. It is not abnormal or deficient.”
“Whilst he has clearly exaggerated his level of deficit to me, on reflection, the clinical history is such that it is probable he has significant neuropsychological problems and he probably could benefit further from input provided he were able or willing to engage.”
“The claimant had a poor academic history but would probably have been capable of working in some low level occupation. It is questionable whether he would have been capable of realising his claimed ambition to become a police officer.”
“From the claimant’s own account, there does not appear to be a significant disadvantage in relation to social function. There is though some disadvantage from his scarring and problems with incontinence. …”
“I am not aware that the claimant has support needs in relation to activities of daily living and his ability to go out socialising and his ability to travel independently across London would suggest there is no such need.”
“The claimant’s father also reported the claimant could not be trusted to travel independently, yet he was perfectly capable of travelling across London on his own when he saw me recently. The claimant’s father commented that the claimant could not remember how much sugar he had put in his tea from one moment to the next but none the less reported that the claimant could run his own business with family support.”
“I think [the school reports] show that the claimant was functioning at a very low level though it is difficult to know whether this was because of an inherent lack of ability or a lack of application. In any event it is clear from the school records that he was not destined for high education of any worth. … It is difficult to say [whether it is probable that the claimant would have gone on to tertiary education] given that it seems almost anyone can gain entry to tertiary education these days and a high level of academic ability does not appear to be a pre-requisite. However, I think it highly improbable that the claimant possessed sufficient self discipline and rigor to achieve anything worth while at a tertiary education level ... I am afraid I have no knowledge of what is required to gain entry into the police force. However I would be surprised if the claimant had sufficient ability and moreover I think he lacked any signs of the discipline and motivation to see through any training that would pose a challenge or requirement for punctuality and consistency. I think that even were he admitted to the police force it would be improbable that he would complete his training. ”
“The claimant was independent and able to use public transport to attend college and meet friends. It was noted that it had been difficult at times to engage the claimant and his family in the rehabilitative process. The claimant had frequently failed to attend appointments. NHW Comments: This contradicts the claimant’s current claim that he cannot use public transport or go out alone. It is also clear that the claimant and his family have now been non-compliant with rehabilitation efforts for almost three years. The claimant’s failure to engage would seem to mirror his pre-accident behaviours at school.”
“I think absent the accident he would have been able to work but I think it probable he would not have persisted when faced with difficulty and would have had problems dealing with authority figures and discipline such that on the balance of probability, he would have had a somewhat chequered work history. I think it improbable that he would have been of a calibre sufficient to work as a police officer.”
“to my knowledge, the hearing of voices is atypical of those with depression unless there is evidence of psychosis and Dr Bradley had provided no evidence of this. Dr Bradley provides no explanation of how he ruled out malingering in relation to these bizarre and atypical reports, which seem to have been dealt with inconclusively given their nature. ”
“On examination he presents as listless and poorly motivated. During the course of the interview and examination I became convinced that he was underperforming. On the physical aspects of examination, this was evidenced by him not trying to do much of the physical examination, by his give-way weakness and by his commentary “oh it aches, I am stiff” and by his general physical demeanour. There is an extremely mild right sided weakness, but it has little impact on his physical functioning. He was also unconvincing in the severity of his cognitive losses. Struggling to remember the date of his birthday and his age is really incompatible with the generally good ability he had in recalling his history and his life both before and after the accident. At times he asked questions which suggested to me that he was trying to work out what impact and particular answer might have on his case, e.g. he asked on one occasion “now how should I answer that question?” when I replied “truthfully” he looked embarrassed. He asked a lot of questions to be repeated and he gave the impression that he was trying to plan his answers but taking extra time to do so. I concluded that although he has some cognitive and memory impairments and some neurobehavioral problems they are not severe, and following the severity of the brain injury I would describe as mild in a relative sense. There appears to be a lack of initiation and a loss of motivation, but he did give the impression that he was exaggerating his difficulties. He may also be depressed.”
“the Royal Victoria principle applied only where, on the medical evidence, the court can determine exactly how long an individual in a particular case can be expected to live. In [Crofts v Murton, another first instance decision], as in the present claim, the medical evidence did not decide the overall expectation of life, how long the claimant would live. Rather it determined by how much his pre-morbid statistical life expectancy had been shortened. There is no double-counting of mortality by use of Table 1.”
“The paediatric neurologists in this case have assessed the claimant’s life expectancy by reference to his mortality risks as a whole, not just those risks associated with his cerebral palsy. This is not one of those cases … where the medical evidence relates only to the reduction in life expectancy caused by a number of identified factors specifically relating to the claimant and the injury which is the subject of the claim. The predicted life expectancy which I have determined is a specific finding relating to the individual life expectancy of this claimant.”
“We note that there is likely to be a small reduction in Mr Ali’s life expectancy by virtue of his brain injury with an additional element associated with his post-traumatic epilepsy. We note that epidemiological evidence is limited in this field, but are agreed that his life expectancy is likely to be reduced, on the balance of probabilities, by between 4 to 7 years as a result of his brain injury and post-traumatic epilepsy.”