The family of an NHS pharmacist who took his own life after suffering paralysing complications from a COVID jab are calling for urgent reform of the government\u2019s compensation scheme for vaccine damage.<\/p>\n
John Cross was told by the official medical assessor for the scheme that the jab had caused his rare neurological effects, but that he wasn\u2019t disabled enough for a payment.<\/p>\n
Mr Cross was unable to move, blink or breathe after his first dose of the vaccine.<\/p>\n
He spent seven months recovering in hospital but was left with chronic pain and numbness \u2013 and suffered several relapses.<\/p>\n
After he was rejected by the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), his mental health deteriorated and he took his own life.<\/p>\n
Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Philip Cross, John\u2019s youngest son, said the family would seek to overturn the judgment and force reform of the VDPS.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want some good out of this and to get the system changed in memory of dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at everything and it\u2019s just wrong. It\u2019s unjust.\u201d<\/p>\n
John was a staunch supporter of vaccination, eager to get his COVID jab to protect elderly relatives and help end the pandemic.<\/p>\n
But two weeks later, he suffered rapidly progressive paralysis that swept up his body.<\/p>\n
He was admitted to intensive care where he was given a tracheostomy, a breathing tube in his neck. And nursing staff had to tape his eyes closed so he could sleep.<\/p>\n
He slowly learned to eat, walk and talk again. But he never regained the mobility and fitness he had enjoyed before his illness.<\/p>\n
Doctors eventually diagnosed Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy, nerve swelling that leads to a loss of strength or sensation.<\/p>\n
Adam, John\u2019s eldest son, said his father dreaded intensive dialysis-like treatment to remove rogue antibodies from his blood because it left him severely fatigued for days.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he knew that without the treatment, this long-term condition would yo-yo, possibly for the rest of his life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he\u2019d have to deal with that. It\u2019s devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
John was urged by his doctors to submit a claim to the VDPS.<\/p>\n
The scheme was set up in 1979 to make a one-off payment of \u00a3120,000 to people who have suffered rare, but significant, side effects to a range of vaccines.<\/p>\n
But after a two-year delay, with only a review of his medical records and no face-to-face assessment, his claim was rejected.<\/p>\n
His widow, Christine, said: \u201cNobody spoke to him. There was no personal contact, nothing. Just fill in this form and that was it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very angry. John went through enough with the illness and the recovery without going through the trauma of this bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
John began gathering medical evidence to have the judgment overturned.<\/p>\n
But he became increasingly anxious and overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
In October 2023, faced with more gruelling treatment for another flare-up, he took his own life.<\/p>\n
Liz Whitehead, his daughter, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve all had our vaccinations. And we continue to since we\u2019ve lost dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now you start to question. If a rare, unusual thing were to take place, the system\u2019s not got your back. It\u2019s not there for you\u2026 is it worth the risk?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vaccination has long been seen as a social contract, with individuals taking the jab for the good of everyone.<\/p>\n
But all vaccines have rare side effects, and the VDPS was designed to be a safety net for severe cases.<\/p>\n
Under the VDPS, a medical examiner assesses patient records and testimony from doctors involved in the claimant\u2019s care.<\/p>\n
To qualify for payment, they must be deemed to be 60% disabled, a threshold with origins in compensation schemes for industrial injuries. Amputation below the knee would be sufficient for a payout.<\/p>\n
But the Cross family\u2019s solicitor, Peter Todd, of Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, said medical assessors struggle to make \u201capples and pears\u201d comparisons with complex vaccine damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe threshold is often misunderstood as being very high, akin to being totally paralysed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it isn\u2019t. It\u2019s a much lower standard, and they have to take into account both the physical disablement and the psychological impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Todd has tracked applications to the VDPS.<\/p>\n
Before the pandemic there were a few dozen a year.<\/p>\n
But since the COVID vaccine rollout, 14,000 people have made claims, according to Freedom of Information requests submitted by Mr Todd to the NHS Business Services Authority.<\/p>\n
Just over 6,000 have so far been notified of an outcome, with 180 people told they would be given a payment.<\/p>\n
Another 350 people have been told that on the balance of probabilities the vaccine caused their complications, but that they didn\u2019t meet the 60% disability threshold.<\/p>\n
Mr Todd said people can struggle to explain the full impact of their vaccine damage on a complex form.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a real mismatch between what the claimant has understood about their condition and what the assessor is prepared to accept based purely on medical records that weren\u2019t created for the purposes of this assessment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey rejected (John\u2019s claim) in the most high-handed and unfair manner, which just broke him psychologically.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NHS Business Services Authority told Sky News that it did not comment on individual cases, but that it was in touch with the Cross family about their concerns over John\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n
The Department of Health, which is responsible for the scheme, said the ongoing COVID Inquiry would investigate reform of the VDPS as part of its vaccination module starting in January next year.<\/p>\n
In a statement, it said: \u201cAssessments of VDPS claims are undertaken by qualified independent medical assessors, who use the medical records and information provided by the claimants\u2019 healthcare providers to make their assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cross family are upset by the slow progress of the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was our dad, he was a really wonderful man,\u201d said Liz.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tragedy and the government needs to hear it. Don\u2019t send me your condolences, don\u2019t tell me how bad you feel for me or us.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo something.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The family of an NHS pharmacist who took his own life after suffering paralysing complications…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}