Re: 'predatory sex offender'Psychiatrist Dr. Haslam jailed 7 years

[Guest guest]

http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/archive/2003/12/13/york_news_local18ZM.html

'predatory sex offender'Psychiatrist Dr. Haslam

jailed 7 years

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-523-938946,00.html

`predatory sex offender'Psychiatrist Dr. Haslam jailed 7 years

December 21, 2003

Focus: Predator

This outwardly respectable doctor was last week branded a `predatory

sex offender'and jailed. Lois , who first exposed him, tells

how for 20 years he stalked hospital wards

When Kate s told me over the telephone how she had been sucked

into a spiral of mental and sexual abuse and had finally been raped

by a senior consultant psychiatrist, an instinctive cynicism kicked

in.

s claimed that Haslam, a National Health Service

doctor, had subjected her to electric shocks, carbon dioxide

treatment and powerful hallucinogens.

During one such treatment she had woken semi-naked to find him

spreadeagled on top of her. Before another, she had been overpowered

and raped.

Moreover, s insisted that she was not alone. The outwardly

respectable specialist had sexually assaulted several other woman

over more than 20 years. A close colleague was also involved. And

the hospital where they worked had tried to bury the scandal.

I still do not know why I did not drop the matter there and then.

Perhaps it was s's manner: if this was just another fantasist,

her account was unusually measured, devoid of the normal wild

adjectives and meandering.

Whatever the reason, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt,

got my notebook out and persuaded her to recount her story in

detail.

s, 46, is now a successful and confident businesswoman.

However, it was a very different person who, in the mid-1980s,

following the birth of twins, sought help from her GP for postnatal

depression.

She was referred to Haslam at Bootham Park hospital in York and - in

a pattern that other women would later recount - the psychiatrist

set about demonstrating that her problems were psychosexual.

Electric shock treatments and dubious hallucinogenic drugs were

prescribed. The effects, far from beneficial, were mainly to confuse

and disorientate, causing s to become ever more reliant on her

doctors. Haslam " treated " s with carbon dioxide, which

rendered her unconscious. It was during one of these sessions that

she awoke to find him lying on top of her.

" His face was right up close to mine, flushed and sweaty, " said

s, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. " I was

barely conscious and very shocked. There is no way of knowing what

he actually did all the times I was unconscious and I will have to

live with that. "

s was so confused that she convinced herself that she was the

one who was behaving oddly and continued to return for treatment. At

a later appointment Haslam, a married father of three, showed her a

collection of sex toys and broached a new form of bizarre treatment,

Kirlian photography, where stress levels are measured from the aura

surrounding the hand.

It was at one of these sessions in 1988 that he raped her while she

was fully conscious. So traumatised was s by the attack that

she attempted suicide by gouging a two-inch deep cut in one of her

wrists.

She told her GP what had happened and he informed the hospital. The

hospital, it later transpired, had received other complaints but

still it did not call in the police.

I also discovered an internal NHS report that had documented the

sexual allegations against Haslam and concluded that they were true.

LAST week - and nearly five years later - Haslam, now 69, was jailed

for seven years by Leeds Crown Court for raping s and sexually

assaulting two other women. Kerr, his colleague, has been

placed on the sex offenders' register. Between them they are thought

to have accounted for up to 80 victims.

One question haunted each of the women preyed on by Haslam after he

had assaulted them or ruthlessly exploited their confused

psychological states. Who will believe me? As one victim who gave

evidence explained: " (Haslam told me:) `If you complain it will be

your word against mine. I will destroy you. I will destroy your

reputation'. "

Again and again Haslam was proved correct. Allegations would

surface, be quietly investigated and then be dismissed without the

police being told.

It became known among many doctors working in York in the 1980s that

Haslam, who worked at the city's Clifton hospital as well as Bootham

Park, should not be trusted with vulnerable female patients. Many

GPs would not refer patients to him. Kerr, another consultant

psychiatrist, was similarly suspect.

Lila , a trained nurse, told the court of a particularly

revolting sex assault by Haslam as early as 1981 at Clifton. ,

now 50, who was being treated for depression, has waived her right

to anonymity to encourage other victims to come forward.

Like a number of patients she was assaulted during a spurious

naked " massage " .

" It is hard for people to understand how vulnerable you are once you

have been labelled a mental patient, " she said.

" You have to remember all of us thought we were the only one. I had

only just moved to York, I didn't particularly know my GP and I did

think he would think I was a mad woman. "

Despite her misgivings, did complain. It took enormous

courage, but the hospital did not even bother to inform the police

and Haslam's career was unaffected. When another woman complained of

an attack three years later, it was again decided by senior

management not to call in the police.

It was not until s made her complaint in 1988 that Haslam was

forced to resign. But he was far from disgraced. He set up in

private practice and subsequently became director of medical

services for an NHS trust in Durham.

Haslam was shrewd enough to prepare possible defences against any

allegations of sex attacks. He would write copious notes about

the " manipulative " personalities of his patients. In his wig, with

its improbable chestnut hue, he attended meetings of the Society of

Clinical Psychiatrists and campaigned for doctors wrongfully

suspended for abusing patients.

As recently as last year he wrote an essay decrying the modern

culture of witch-hunts against doctors: " The words abuse and victim

are much overused to describe every footling problem . . . (by)

those who are frequently motivated by financial gain. "

One potential obstacle to any case against him was the state of his

notes. His victims said they had found that their notes had been

altered, signatures had been forged and records lost.

When I wrote an article outlining the allegations against Haslam in

January 1999, he must have thought he had escaped legal retribution

for his assaults so he sued for libel, in effect gagging the

newspaper.

It was to prove a costly mistake. A team of Sunday Times lawyers

interviewed patients who said he had attacked them. One witness

subsequently went to the police. A criminal investigation was opened

and Haslam was charged for offences dating back two decades.

Haslam had by then asked for his name to be removed from the medical

register. It blocked the possibility of any General Medical Council

(GMC) hearing into whether he was guilty of professional misconduct.

An internal NHS report concluded that Haslam's victims had

been " sexually exploited " . Yet it was decided to keep this report

from the public.

Kerr was also pursued through the courts. Although he was ruled

unfit to stand trial on medical grounds, a rare " finding of fact "

hearing concluded that he, too, had been guilty of indecent assault.

His name was put on the sex offenders' register.

Earlier this year 16 of Kerr's former patients, who suffered rape

and other sexual assaults, shared compensation of almost £300,000

from the former North Yorkshire health authority, along with an

apology for the distress caused to them.

HOW is it that such dangerous men were allowed to work in the NHS,

unchecked and unchallenged, for so long?

NHS scandals seem to follow a familiar pattern. From the baby heart

surgery scandal at the Bristol Royal Infirmary to the Harold Shipman

murders, they fester quietly for years despite documented suspicions

and then suddenly erupt.

Haslam's case was no exception. Every complainant encountered a

reluctance among senior NHS executives to take their concerns

seriously.

Kathy Haq, a Kerr victim who has also waived her right to anonymity,

is co-ordinating the campaign for allegations of sexual assaults by

doctors to be properly investigated.

" We are certain this is the tip of an iceberg, not just of the Kerr-

Haslam cases but others around the country, " she said. " It is now

likely that many more will come forward, embroiling the NHS in yet

more costly litigation that it can't afford and which could have

been avoided if they had behaved properly. "

A government inquiry will now investigate the failure to stop Haslam

and Kerr earlier, but it will be small consolation for those whose

lives have been ruined. Haq believes that a number have been driven

to suicide by the abuse they suffered.

Sir Liam son, the chief medical officer charged with presiding

over a new era of openness in the NHS, was chief executive of the

Northern and Yorkshire health region which ordered the original

inquiry into Haslam. To this day the report remains a secret

document.

A Department of Health spokesman said Sir Liam had initiated the

inquiry because of his concerns about Haslam, which he passed on to

the GMC. He wanted to publish the report but was unable to do so for

legal reasons.

Phil Willis, the Harrogate MP, said more should have been done to

bring Haslam to justice earlier. He said: " The authorities were

totally uninterested in pursuing it. Now at last we have a

breakthrough and Haslam has been jailed. "

THE MEDICAL SCANDALS THAT WENT UNEXPOSED FOR YEARS

Bristol Royal Infirmary: Between 1991 and 1995, up to 35 babies died

needlessly and others were left brain damaged after operations by

Wisheart, a consultant cardiac surgeon, and Janardan Dhasmana.

Bolsin, a consultant anaesthetist, raised concerns but no

action was taken.

Alder Hey: Between 1988 and 1995, Dick van Velzen, a pathologist at

Alder Hey children's hospital, Liverpool, illegally stripped the

organs from every child who had a post-mortem.

Rodney Ledward: The Kent surgeon, who died in 2000, was struck off

for a series of botched operations. It was claimed that he raped and

assaulted 59 patients. Colleagues raised concerns but he was not

investigated.

Clifford Ayling: The Kent GP spent years indecently assaulting

patients but was allowed to continue in practice for two decades

after complaints emerged.

Neale: The surgeon was struck off in July 2000 over 34

charges of botching the care of female patients.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/archive/2003/12/13/york_news_local18ZM.html

'predatory sex offender'Psychiatrist Dr. Haslam

jailed 7 years

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-523-938946,00.html

`predatory sex offender'Psychiatrist Dr. Haslam jailed 7 years

December 21, 2003

Focus: Predator

This outwardly respectable doctor was last week branded a `predatory

sex offender'and jailed. Lois , who first exposed him, tells

how for 20 years he stalked hospital wards

When Kate s told me over the telephone how she had been sucked

into a spiral of mental and sexual abuse and had finally been raped

by a senior consultant psychiatrist, an instinctive cynicism kicked

in.

s claimed that Haslam, a National Health Service

doctor, had subjected her to electric shocks, carbon dioxide

treatment and powerful hallucinogens.

During one such treatment she had woken semi-naked to find him

spreadeagled on top of her. Before another, she had been overpowered

and raped.

Moreover, s insisted that she was not alone. The outwardly

respectable specialist had sexually assaulted several other woman

over more than 20 years. A close colleague was also involved. And

the hospital where they worked had tried to bury the scandal.

I still do not know why I did not drop the matter there and then.

Perhaps it was s's manner: if this was just another fantasist,

her account was unusually measured, devoid of the normal wild

adjectives and meandering.

Whatever the reason, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt,

got my notebook out and persuaded her to recount her story in

detail.

s, 46, is now a successful and confident businesswoman.

However, it was a very different person who, in the mid-1980s,

following the birth of twins, sought help from her GP for postnatal

depression.

She was referred to Haslam at Bootham Park hospital in York and - in

a pattern that other women would later recount - the psychiatrist

set about demonstrating that her problems were psychosexual.

Electric shock treatments and dubious hallucinogenic drugs were

prescribed. The effects, far from beneficial, were mainly to confuse

and disorientate, causing s to become ever more reliant on her

doctors. Haslam " treated " s with carbon dioxide, which

rendered her unconscious. It was during one of these sessions that

she awoke to find him lying on top of her.

" His face was right up close to mine, flushed and sweaty, " said

s, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. " I was

barely conscious and very shocked. There is no way of knowing what

he actually did all the times I was unconscious and I will have to

live with that. "

s was so confused that she convinced herself that she was the

one who was behaving oddly and continued to return for treatment. At

a later appointment Haslam, a married father of three, showed her a

collection of sex toys and broached a new form of bizarre treatment,

Kirlian photography, where stress levels are measured from the aura

surrounding the hand.

It was at one of these sessions in 1988 that he raped her while she

was fully conscious. So traumatised was s by the attack that

she attempted suicide by gouging a two-inch deep cut in one of her

wrists.

She told her GP what had happened and he informed the hospital. The

hospital, it later transpired, had received other complaints but

still it did not call in the police.

I also discovered an internal NHS report that had documented the

sexual allegations against Haslam and concluded that they were true.

LAST week - and nearly five years later - Haslam, now 69, was jailed

for seven years by Leeds Crown Court for raping s and sexually

assaulting two other women. Kerr, his colleague, has been

placed on the sex offenders' register. Between them they are thought

to have accounted for up to 80 victims.

One question haunted each of the women preyed on by Haslam after he

had assaulted them or ruthlessly exploited their confused

psychological states. Who will believe me? As one victim who gave

evidence explained: " (Haslam told me:) `If you complain it will be

your word against mine. I will destroy you. I will destroy your

reputation'. "

Again and again Haslam was proved correct. Allegations would

surface, be quietly investigated and then be dismissed without the

police being told.

It became known among many doctors working in York in the 1980s that

Haslam, who worked at the city's Clifton hospital as well as Bootham

Park, should not be trusted with vulnerable female patients. Many

GPs would not refer patients to him. Kerr, another consultant

psychiatrist, was similarly suspect.

Lila , a trained nurse, told the court of a particularly

revolting sex assault by Haslam as early as 1981 at Clifton. ,

now 50, who was being treated for depression, has waived her right

to anonymity to encourage other victims to come forward.

Like a number of patients she was assaulted during a spurious

naked " massage " .

" It is hard for people to understand how vulnerable you are once you

have been labelled a mental patient, " she said.

" You have to remember all of us thought we were the only one. I had

only just moved to York, I didn't particularly know my GP and I did

think he would think I was a mad woman. "

Despite her misgivings, did complain. It took enormous

courage, but the hospital did not even bother to inform the police

and Haslam's career was unaffected. When another woman complained of

an attack three years later, it was again decided by senior

management not to call in the police.

It was not until s made her complaint in 1988 that Haslam was

forced to resign. But he was far from disgraced. He set up in

private practice and subsequently became director of medical

services for an NHS trust in Durham.

Haslam was shrewd enough to prepare possible defences against any

allegations of sex attacks. He would write copious notes about

the " manipulative " personalities of his patients. In his wig, with

its improbable chestnut hue, he attended meetings of the Society of

Clinical Psychiatrists and campaigned for doctors wrongfully

suspended for abusing patients.

As recently as last year he wrote an essay decrying the modern

culture of witch-hunts against doctors: " The words abuse and victim

are much overused to describe every footling problem . . . (by)

those who are frequently motivated by financial gain. "

One potential obstacle to any case against him was the state of his

notes. His victims said they had found that their notes had been

altered, signatures had been forged and records lost.

When I wrote an article outlining the allegations against Haslam in

January 1999, he must have thought he had escaped legal retribution

for his assaults so he sued for libel, in effect gagging the

newspaper.

It was to prove a costly mistake. A team of Sunday Times lawyers

interviewed patients who said he had attacked them. One witness

subsequently went to the police. A criminal investigation was opened

and Haslam was charged for offences dating back two decades.

Haslam had by then asked for his name to be removed from the medical

register. It blocked the possibility of any General Medical Council

(GMC) hearing into whether he was guilty of professional misconduct.

An internal NHS report concluded that Haslam's victims had

been " sexually exploited " . Yet it was decided to keep this report

from the public.

Kerr was also pursued through the courts. Although he was ruled

unfit to stand trial on medical grounds, a rare " finding of fact "

hearing concluded that he, too, had been guilty of indecent assault.

His name was put on the sex offenders' register.

Earlier this year 16 of Kerr's former patients, who suffered rape

and other sexual assaults, shared compensation of almost £300,000

from the former North Yorkshire health authority, along with an

apology for the distress caused to them.

HOW is it that such dangerous men were allowed to work in the NHS,

unchecked and unchallenged, for so long?

NHS scandals seem to follow a familiar pattern. From the baby heart

surgery scandal at the Bristol Royal Infirmary to the Harold Shipman

murders, they fester quietly for years despite documented suspicions

and then suddenly erupt.

Haslam's case was no exception. Every complainant encountered a

reluctance among senior NHS executives to take their concerns

seriously.

Kathy Haq, a Kerr victim who has also waived her right to anonymity,

is co-ordinating the campaign for allegations of sexual assaults by

doctors to be properly investigated.

" We are certain this is the tip of an iceberg, not just of the Kerr-

Haslam cases but others around the country, " she said. " It is now

likely that many more will come forward, embroiling the NHS in yet

more costly litigation that it can't afford and which could have

been avoided if they had behaved properly. "

A government inquiry will now investigate the failure to stop Haslam

and Kerr earlier, but it will be small consolation for those whose

lives have been ruined. Haq believes that a number have been driven

to suicide by the abuse they suffered.

Sir Liam son, the chief medical officer charged with presiding

over a new era of openness in the NHS, was chief executive of the

Northern and Yorkshire health region which ordered the original

inquiry into Haslam. To this day the report remains a secret

document.

A Department of Health spokesman said Sir Liam had initiated the

inquiry because of his concerns about Haslam, which he passed on to

the GMC. He wanted to publish the report but was unable to do so for

legal reasons.

Phil Willis, the Harrogate MP, said more should have been done to

bring Haslam to justice earlier. He said: " The authorities were

totally uninterested in pursuing it. Now at last we have a

breakthrough and Haslam has been jailed. "

THE MEDICAL SCANDALS THAT WENT UNEXPOSED FOR YEARS

Bristol Royal Infirmary: Between 1991 and 1995, up to 35 babies died

needlessly and others were left brain damaged after operations by

Wisheart, a consultant cardiac surgeon, and Janardan Dhasmana.

Bolsin, a consultant anaesthetist, raised concerns but no

action was taken.

Alder Hey: Between 1988 and 1995, Dick van Velzen, a pathologist at

Alder Hey children's hospital, Liverpool, illegally stripped the

organs from every child who had a post-mortem.

Rodney Ledward: The Kent surgeon, who died in 2000, was struck off

for a series of botched operations. It was claimed that he raped and

assaulted 59 patients. Colleagues raised concerns but he was not

investigated.

Clifford Ayling: The Kent GP spent years indecently assaulting

patients but was allowed to continue in practice for two decades

after complaints emerged.

Neale: The surgeon was struck off in July 2000 over 34

charges of botching the care of female patients.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/archive/2003/12/13/york_news_local18ZM.html

'predatory sex offender'Psychiatrist Dr. Haslam

jailed 7 years

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-523-938946,00.html

`predatory sex offender'Psychiatrist Dr. Haslam jailed 7 years

December 21, 2003

Focus: Predator

This outwardly respectable doctor was last week branded a `predatory

sex offender'and jailed. Lois , who first exposed him, tells

how for 20 years he stalked hospital wards

When Kate s told me over the telephone how she had been sucked

into a spiral of mental and sexual abuse and had finally been raped

by a senior consultant psychiatrist, an instinctive cynicism kicked

in.

s claimed that Haslam, a National Health Service

doctor, had subjected her to electric shocks, carbon dioxide

treatment and powerful hallucinogens.

During one such treatment she had woken semi-naked to find him

spreadeagled on top of her. Before another, she had been overpowered

and raped.

Moreover, s insisted that she was not alone. The outwardly

respectable specialist had sexually assaulted several other woman

over more than 20 years. A close colleague was also involved. And

the hospital where they worked had tried to bury the scandal.

I still do not know why I did not drop the matter there and then.

Perhaps it was s's manner: if this was just another fantasist,

her account was unusually measured, devoid of the normal wild

adjectives and meandering.

Whatever the reason, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt,

got my notebook out and persuaded her to recount her story in

detail.

s, 46, is now a successful and confident businesswoman.

However, it was a very different person who, in the mid-1980s,

following the birth of twins, sought help from her GP for postnatal

depression.

She was referred to Haslam at Bootham Park hospital in York and - in

a pattern that other women would later recount - the psychiatrist

set about demonstrating that her problems were psychosexual.

Electric shock treatments and dubious hallucinogenic drugs were

prescribed. The effects, far from beneficial, were mainly to confuse

and disorientate, causing s to become ever more reliant on her

doctors. Haslam " treated " s with carbon dioxide, which

rendered her unconscious. It was during one of these sessions that

she awoke to find him lying on top of her.

" His face was right up close to mine, flushed and sweaty, " said

s, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. " I was

barely conscious and very shocked. There is no way of knowing what

he actually did all the times I was unconscious and I will have to

live with that. "

s was so confused that she convinced herself that she was the

one who was behaving oddly and continued to return for treatment. At

a later appointment Haslam, a married father of three, showed her a

collection of sex toys and broached a new form of bizarre treatment,

Kirlian photography, where stress levels are measured from the aura

surrounding the hand.

It was at one of these sessions in 1988 that he raped her while she

was fully conscious. So traumatised was s by the attack that

she attempted suicide by gouging a two-inch deep cut in one of her

wrists.

She told her GP what had happened and he informed the hospital. The

hospital, it later transpired, had received other complaints but

still it did not call in the police.

I also discovered an internal NHS report that had documented the

sexual allegations against Haslam and concluded that they were true.

LAST week - and nearly five years later - Haslam, now 69, was jailed

for seven years by Leeds Crown Court for raping s and sexually

assaulting two other women. Kerr, his colleague, has been

placed on the sex offenders' register. Between them they are thought

to have accounted for up to 80 victims.

One question haunted each of the women preyed on by Haslam after he

had assaulted them or ruthlessly exploited their confused

psychological states. Who will believe me? As one victim who gave

evidence explained: " (Haslam told me:) `If you complain it will be

your word against mine. I will destroy you. I will destroy your

reputation'. "

Again and again Haslam was proved correct. Allegations would

surface, be quietly investigated and then be dismissed without the

police being told.

It became known among many doctors working in York in the 1980s that

Haslam, who worked at the city's Clifton hospital as well as Bootham

Park, should not be trusted with vulnerable female patients. Many

GPs would not refer patients to him. Kerr, another consultant

psychiatrist, was similarly suspect.

Lila , a trained nurse, told the court of a particularly

revolting sex assault by Haslam as early as 1981 at Clifton. ,

now 50, who was being treated for depression, has waived her right

to anonymity to encourage other victims to come forward.

Like a number of patients she was assaulted during a spurious

naked " massage " .

" It is hard for people to understand how vulnerable you are once you

have been labelled a mental patient, " she said.

" You have to remember all of us thought we were the only one. I had

only just moved to York, I didn't particularly know my GP and I did

think he would think I was a mad woman. "

Despite her misgivings, did complain. It took enormous

courage, but the hospital did not even bother to inform the police

and Haslam's career was unaffected. When another woman complained of

an attack three years later, it was again decided by senior

management not to call in the police.

It was not until s made her complaint in 1988 that Haslam was

forced to resign. But he was far from disgraced. He set up in

private practice and subsequently became director of medical

services for an NHS trust in Durham.

Haslam was shrewd enough to prepare possible defences against any

allegations of sex attacks. He would write copious notes about

the " manipulative " personalities of his patients. In his wig, with

its improbable chestnut hue, he attended meetings of the Society of

Clinical Psychiatrists and campaigned for doctors wrongfully

suspended for abusing patients.

As recently as last year he wrote an essay decrying the modern

culture of witch-hunts against doctors: " The words abuse and victim

are much overused to describe every footling problem . . . (by)

those who are frequently motivated by financial gain. "

One potential obstacle to any case against him was the state of his

notes. His victims said they had found that their notes had been

altered, signatures had been forged and records lost.

When I wrote an article outlining the allegations against Haslam in

January 1999, he must have thought he had escaped legal retribution

for his assaults so he sued for libel, in effect gagging the

newspaper.

It was to prove a costly mistake. A team of Sunday Times lawyers

interviewed patients who said he had attacked them. One witness

subsequently went to the police. A criminal investigation was opened

and Haslam was charged for offences dating back two decades.

Haslam had by then asked for his name to be removed from the medical

register. It blocked the possibility of any General Medical Council

(GMC) hearing into whether he was guilty of professional misconduct.

An internal NHS report concluded that Haslam's victims had

been " sexually exploited " . Yet it was decided to keep this report

from the public.

Kerr was also pursued through the courts. Although he was ruled

unfit to stand trial on medical grounds, a rare " finding of fact "

hearing concluded that he, too, had been guilty of indecent assault.

His name was put on the sex offenders' register.

Earlier this year 16 of Kerr's former patients, who suffered rape

and other sexual assaults, shared compensation of almost £300,000

from the former North Yorkshire health authority, along with an

apology for the distress caused to them.

HOW is it that such dangerous men were allowed to work in the NHS,

unchecked and unchallenged, for so long?

NHS scandals seem to follow a familiar pattern. From the baby heart

surgery scandal at the Bristol Royal Infirmary to the Harold Shipman

murders, they fester quietly for years despite documented suspicions

and then suddenly erupt.

Haslam's case was no exception. Every complainant encountered a

reluctance among senior NHS executives to take their concerns

seriously.

Kathy Haq, a Kerr victim who has also waived her right to anonymity,

is co-ordinating the campaign for allegations of sexual assaults by

doctors to be properly investigated.

" We are certain this is the tip of an iceberg, not just of the Kerr-

Haslam cases but others around the country, " she said. " It is now

likely that many more will come forward, embroiling the NHS in yet

more costly litigation that it can't afford and which could have

been avoided if they had behaved properly. "

A government inquiry will now investigate the failure to stop Haslam

and Kerr earlier, but it will be small consolation for those whose

lives have been ruined. Haq believes that a number have been driven

to suicide by the abuse they suffered.

Sir Liam son, the chief medical officer charged with presiding

over a new era of openness in the NHS, was chief executive of the

Northern and Yorkshire health region which ordered the original

inquiry into Haslam. To this day the report remains a secret

document.

A Department of Health spokesman said Sir Liam had initiated the

inquiry because of his concerns about Haslam, which he passed on to

the GMC. He wanted to publish the report but was unable to do so for

legal reasons.

Phil Willis, the Harrogate MP, said more should have been done to

bring Haslam to justice earlier. He said: " The authorities were

totally uninterested in pursuing it. Now at last we have a

breakthrough and Haslam has been jailed. "

THE MEDICAL SCANDALS THAT WENT UNEXPOSED FOR YEARS

Bristol Royal Infirmary: Between 1991 and 1995, up to 35 babies died

needlessly and others were left brain damaged after operations by

Wisheart, a consultant cardiac surgeon, and Janardan Dhasmana.

Bolsin, a consultant anaesthetist, raised concerns but no

action was taken.

Alder Hey: Between 1988 and 1995, Dick van Velzen, a pathologist at

Alder Hey children's hospital, Liverpool, illegally stripped the

organs from every child who had a post-mortem.

Rodney Ledward: The Kent surgeon, who died in 2000, was struck off

for a series of botched operations. It was claimed that he raped and

assaulted 59 patients. Colleagues raised concerns but he was not

investigated.

Clifford Ayling: The Kent GP spent years indecently assaulting

patients but was allowed to continue in practice for two decades

after complaints emerged.

Neale: The surgeon was struck off in July 2000 over 34

charges of botching the care of female patients.

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[Guest guest]

http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/archive/2003/12/13/york_news_local18ZM.html

'predatory sex offender'Psychiatrist Dr. Haslam

jailed 7 years

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-523-938946,00.html

`predatory sex offender'Psychiatrist Dr. Haslam jailed 7 years

December 21, 2003

Focus: Predator

This outwardly respectable doctor was last week branded a `predatory

sex offender'and jailed. Lois , who first exposed him, tells

how for 20 years he stalked hospital wards

When Kate s told me over the telephone how she had been sucked

into a spiral of mental and sexual abuse and had finally been raped

by a senior consultant psychiatrist, an instinctive cynicism kicked

in.

s claimed that Haslam, a National Health Service

doctor, had subjected her to electric shocks, carbon dioxide

treatment and powerful hallucinogens.

During one such treatment she had woken semi-naked to find him

spreadeagled on top of her. Before another, she had been overpowered

and raped.

Moreover, s insisted that she was not alone. The outwardly

respectable specialist had sexually assaulted several other woman

over more than 20 years. A close colleague was also involved. And

the hospital where they worked had tried to bury the scandal.

I still do not know why I did not drop the matter there and then.

Perhaps it was s's manner: if this was just another fantasist,

her account was unusually measured, devoid of the normal wild

adjectives and meandering.

Whatever the reason, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt,

got my notebook out and persuaded her to recount her story in

detail.

s, 46, is now a successful and confident businesswoman.

However, it was a very different person who, in the mid-1980s,

following the birth of twins, sought help from her GP for postnatal

depression.

She was referred to Haslam at Bootham Park hospital in York and - in

a pattern that other women would later recount - the psychiatrist

set about demonstrating that her problems were psychosexual.

Electric shock treatments and dubious hallucinogenic drugs were

prescribed. The effects, far from beneficial, were mainly to confuse

and disorientate, causing s to become ever more reliant on her

doctors. Haslam " treated " s with carbon dioxide, which

rendered her unconscious. It was during one of these sessions that

she awoke to find him lying on top of her.

" His face was right up close to mine, flushed and sweaty, " said

s, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. " I was

barely conscious and very shocked. There is no way of knowing what

he actually did all the times I was unconscious and I will have to

live with that. "

s was so confused that she convinced herself that she was the

one who was behaving oddly and continued to return for treatment. At

a later appointment Haslam, a married father of three, showed her a

collection of sex toys and broached a new form of bizarre treatment,

Kirlian photography, where stress levels are measured from the aura

surrounding the hand.

It was at one of these sessions in 1988 that he raped her while she

was fully conscious. So traumatised was s by the attack that

she attempted suicide by gouging a two-inch deep cut in one of her

wrists.

She told her GP what had happened and he informed the hospital. The

hospital, it later transpired, had received other complaints but

still it did not call in the police.

I also discovered an internal NHS report that had documented the

sexual allegations against Haslam and concluded that they were true.

LAST week - and nearly five years later - Haslam, now 69, was jailed

for seven years by Leeds Crown Court for raping s and sexually

assaulting two other women. Kerr, his colleague, has been

placed on the sex offenders' register. Between them they are thought

to have accounted for up to 80 victims.

One question haunted each of the women preyed on by Haslam after he

had assaulted them or ruthlessly exploited their confused

psychological states. Who will believe me? As one victim who gave

evidence explained: " (Haslam told me:) `If you complain it will be

your word against mine. I will destroy you. I will destroy your

reputation'. "

Again and again Haslam was proved correct. Allegations would

surface, be quietly investigated and then be dismissed without the

police being told.

It became known among many doctors working in York in the 1980s that

Haslam, who worked at the city's Clifton hospital as well as Bootham

Park, should not be trusted with vulnerable female patients. Many

GPs would not refer patients to him. Kerr, another consultant

psychiatrist, was similarly suspect.

Lila , a trained nurse, told the court of a particularly

revolting sex assault by Haslam as early as 1981 at Clifton. ,

now 50, who was being treated for depression, has waived her right

to anonymity to encourage other victims to come forward.

Like a number of patients she was assaulted during a spurious

naked " massage " .

" It is hard for people to understand how vulnerable you are once you

have been labelled a mental patient, " she said.

" You have to remember all of us thought we were the only one. I had

only just moved to York, I didn't particularly know my GP and I did

think he would think I was a mad woman. "

Despite her misgivings, did complain. It took enormous

courage, but the hospital did not even bother to inform the police

and Haslam's career was unaffected. When another woman complained of

an attack three years later, it was again decided by senior

management not to call in the police.

It was not until s made her complaint in 1988 that Haslam was

forced to resign. But he was far from disgraced. He set up in

private practice and subsequently became director of medical

services for an NHS trust in Durham.

Haslam was shrewd enough to prepare possible defences against any

allegations of sex attacks. He would write copious notes about

the " manipulative " personalities of his patients. In his wig, with

its improbable chestnut hue, he attended meetings of the Society of

Clinical Psychiatrists and campaigned for doctors wrongfully

suspended for abusing patients.

As recently as last year he wrote an essay decrying the modern

culture of witch-hunts against doctors: " The words abuse and victim

are much overused to describe every footling problem . . . (by)

those who are frequently motivated by financial gain. "

One potential obstacle to any case against him was the state of his

notes. His victims said they had found that their notes had been

altered, signatures had been forged and records lost.

When I wrote an article outlining the allegations against Haslam in

January 1999, he must have thought he had escaped legal retribution

for his assaults so he sued for libel, in effect gagging the

newspaper.

It was to prove a costly mistake. A team of Sunday Times lawyers

interviewed patients who said he had attacked them. One witness

subsequently went to the police. A criminal investigation was opened

and Haslam was charged for offences dating back two decades.

Haslam had by then asked for his name to be removed from the medical

register. It blocked the possibility of any General Medical Council

(GMC) hearing into whether he was guilty of professional misconduct.

An internal NHS report concluded that Haslam's victims had

been " sexually exploited " . Yet it was decided to keep this report

from the public.

Kerr was also pursued through the courts. Although he was ruled

unfit to stand trial on medical grounds, a rare " finding of fact "

hearing concluded that he, too, had been guilty of indecent assault.

His name was put on the sex offenders' register.

Earlier this year 16 of Kerr's former patients, who suffered rape

and other sexual assaults, shared compensation of almost £300,000

from the former North Yorkshire health authority, along with an

apology for the distress caused to them.

HOW is it that such dangerous men were allowed to work in the NHS,

unchecked and unchallenged, for so long?

NHS scandals seem to follow a familiar pattern. From the baby heart

surgery scandal at the Bristol Royal Infirmary to the Harold Shipman

murders, they fester quietly for years despite documented suspicions

and then suddenly erupt.

Haslam's case was no exception. Every complainant encountered a

reluctance among senior NHS executives to take their concerns

seriously.

Kathy Haq, a Kerr victim who has also waived her right to anonymity,

is co-ordinating the campaign for allegations of sexual assaults by

doctors to be properly investigated.

" We are certain this is the tip of an iceberg, not just of the Kerr-

Haslam cases but others around the country, " she said. " It is now

likely that many more will come forward, embroiling the NHS in yet

more costly litigation that it can't afford and which could have

been avoided if they had behaved properly. "

A government inquiry will now investigate the failure to stop Haslam

and Kerr earlier, but it will be small consolation for those whose

lives have been ruined. Haq believes that a number have been driven

to suicide by the abuse they suffered.

Sir Liam son, the chief medical officer charged with presiding

over a new era of openness in the NHS, was chief executive of the

Northern and Yorkshire health region which ordered the original

inquiry into Haslam. To this day the report remains a secret

document.

A Department of Health spokesman said Sir Liam had initiated the

inquiry because of his concerns about Haslam, which he passed on to

the GMC. He wanted to publish the report but was unable to do so for

legal reasons.

Phil Willis, the Harrogate MP, said more should have been done to

bring Haslam to justice earlier. He said: " The authorities were

totally uninterested in pursuing it. Now at last we have a

breakthrough and Haslam has been jailed. "

THE MEDICAL SCANDALS THAT WENT UNEXPOSED FOR YEARS

Bristol Royal Infirmary: Between 1991 and 1995, up to 35 babies died

needlessly and others were left brain damaged after operations by

Wisheart, a consultant cardiac surgeon, and Janardan Dhasmana.

Bolsin, a consultant anaesthetist, raised concerns but no

action was taken.

Alder Hey: Between 1988 and 1995, Dick van Velzen, a pathologist at

Alder Hey children's hospital, Liverpool, illegally stripped the

organs from every child who had a post-mortem.

Rodney Ledward: The Kent surgeon, who died in 2000, was struck off

for a series of botched operations. It was claimed that he raped and

assaulted 59 patients. Colleagues raised concerns but he was not

investigated.

Clifford Ayling: The Kent GP spent years indecently assaulting

patients but was allowed to continue in practice for two decades

after complaints emerged.

Neale: The surgeon was struck off in July 2000 over 34

charges of botching the care of female patients.

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