Today, the Dominion Post reported:
So ACC blamed a sexual abuse victim for changing documents they themselves altered... This was of course to bring the claimant into disrepute in the hope of being able to decline her treatment.
The changes were not properly recorded, and that "oversight" was clearly done for a reason... This was no honest mistake by ACC and in my opinion altering documents to try and discredit a client amounts to forgery.
So before even checking, Dodwell immediately accused the client of altering the documents... How despicable! ACC would have written to the client to make the false accusations in order to cause her distress, which is another way ACC ensures claimants often give up fighting for what they're entitled to.
Of course ACC's apology was only forthcoming after the media became involved.
Such behaviour is obviously acceptable to the Minister of ACC, Judith Collins, who promised a culture change at ACC after the Bronwyn Puller debacle blew up in Nationals face. However nothing has changed and ACC is still causing claimants undue distress by being dishonest.
ACC medical assessors are obviously still being paid bonuses for declining claimants without good reason.
It's apparent that the lack of any government impetus to fix ACC is an attempt to shift public opinion concerning the no fault scheme so that it can be privatised... That's Nationals end game here, and that's why ACC is continuing to mistreat its clients.
You've got to wonder if ACC goes out and headhunts these types of people?
No wonder Peter Dodwell works for ACC, he's a complete wanker!
With many similar despicable cases of ACC abusing clients, it's obvious that the system is still highly dysfunctional. Clearly Judith Collins has totally failed to implement any type of culture change at ACC, which is another indication that she's a complete failure of a minister.
In my opinion, Judith Collins should resign from her ACC responsibilities forthwith... But unfortunately she's not being held to account at all for the mess that ACC has become.
ACC has apologised to a rape victim after a manager in charge of sensitive claims tried to blame her when a report containing medical information was altered.
Instead, it was ACC that had censored important details from a psychiatrist's report about the rape and incest client.
So ACC blamed a sexual abuse victim for changing documents they themselves altered... This was of course to bring the claimant into disrepute in the hope of being able to decline her treatment.
The senior ACC staffers involved in the botch-up were Dr Dodwell, and ACC team manager Karmal Mark.
Dr Dodwell was asked by ACC to assess a medication claim from the client for treatment for complex mental health issues arising from her accepted ACC claim following years of systemic sexual abuse.
But half of the psychiatrist's report was deleted by ACC and the psychiatrist's signature was cut and pasted from another page.
The word "abridged" was inserted above Ms Mark's contact details before the report was sent to Dr Dodwell.
The changes were not properly recorded, and that "oversight" was clearly done for a reason... This was no honest mistake by ACC and in my opinion altering documents to try and discredit a client amounts to forgery.
After receiving the report, Dr Dodwell wrote: "A line appears to have been deleted . . . presumably by the claimant.
"Censorship of medical reports by a claimant is not acceptable and appears to breach the trust ACC demonstrated in allowing the claimant to bar direct contact with treatment providers."
The psychiatrist "clearly wrote something he considered significant to her management", Dr Dodwell said.
So before even checking, Dodwell immediately accused the client of altering the documents... How despicable! ACC would have written to the client to make the false accusations in order to cause her distress, which is another way ACC ensures claimants often give up fighting for what they're entitled to.
When The Dominion Post questioned ACC about the altered report, they delayed replying while they went back to the psychiatrist to confirm his original report was different to the abridged version.
The psychiatrist confirmed the full report was his, not the abridged version, and told ACC: "I have now confirmed this on three occasions to ACC. I trust three confirmations are adequate".
Finally, on Friday the corporation confirmed to The Dominion Post that a letter of apology would be sent to the client.
Of course ACC's apology was only forthcoming after the media became involved.
The sensitive claims unit client said it was typical of ACC to make thinly veiled accusations of what could amount to criminal behaviour against clients but she provided documents showing ACC changed the report, not her.
The debacle "is more than outrageous, it is criminal and yet they have had the audacity to blame me for tampering with a medical report".
"I'm appalled, disgusted and very distressed and angry. I am so damn angry about it . . . this is quite simply not acceptable," the woman said.
Such behaviour is obviously acceptable to the Minister of ACC, Judith Collins, who promised a culture change at ACC after the Bronwyn Puller debacle blew up in Nationals face. However nothing has changed and ACC is still causing claimants undue distress by being dishonest.
ACC medical assessors are obviously still being paid bonuses for declining claimants without good reason.
It's apparent that the lack of any government impetus to fix ACC is an attempt to shift public opinion concerning the no fault scheme so that it can be privatised... That's Nationals end game here, and that's why ACC is continuing to mistreat its clients.
Before being appointed medical adviser for the ACC unit dealing with its most sensitive cases, Dr Dodwell was sacked from his job in Australia.
In March 2008, he was dismissed from his role as chief medical officer at HealthQuest, a medical screening body for bureaucrats, after he passed on information about a teacher applying for a job.
You've got to wonder if ACC goes out and headhunts these types of people?
An investigation by a former New South Wales deputy police commissioner David Madden said Dr Dodwell tried to adversely affect a decision to employ the teacher by saying she was being investigated by police for defamatory website postings about him.
"The way in which he [Dodwell] went about informing the Department of Education was inappropriate and not reasonable behaviour of a public official," the Madden report said.
No wonder Peter Dodwell works for ACC, he's a complete wanker!
With many similar despicable cases of ACC abusing clients, it's obvious that the system is still highly dysfunctional. Clearly Judith Collins has totally failed to implement any type of culture change at ACC, which is another indication that she's a complete failure of a minister.
In my opinion, Judith Collins should resign from her ACC responsibilities forthwith... But unfortunately she's not being held to account at all for the mess that ACC has become.
