Justice for Laughing Boy: Connor Sparrowhawk - A Death by Indifference

by Sara Ryan

Overview

On July 4th 2013, Connor Sparrowhawk, also known as Laughing Boy or LB, was found dead in a specialist NHS unit. Connor, who had autism and epilepsy, had a seizure while in the bath and no member of staff was on hand to stop him from drowning. An entirely preventable death.

Sara Ryan presents a frank, sometimes funny and touching account of her son's early life and preventable death and the unfolding #JusticeforLB campaign. This serves as a wake-up call to all of us and asks: can we really claim that we respect the life and dignity of learning disabled people?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785923487
Publisher:	Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Publication date:	09/27/2017
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Dr Sara Ryan is a social scientist at the University of Oxford, specialising in autism and learning disabilities. Her blog, 'My Daft Life', started before Connor's death, and continues to document the events that followed https://mydaftlife.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword Baroness Helena Kennedy QC 17

Author's Note 21

Chapter 1 What a Wonderful World 29

Connor 30

The early years 33

The blog 37

Chapter 2 Doc Days, Holidays and Life Rafts 41

The epilepsy 45

Chunky Stan, 2003-16 49

Negotiating mediocrity and the life raft 51

Chapter 3 Nudging Adulthood 57

The halcyon years 57

The lack of an imagined future 59

A taste of the future 61

The downturn 62

Opening up the blog 66

Choice and hindsight 68

Epilepsy reaches the Unit 70

Chapter 4 The Fallout 79

The relatives room 79

Death decisions 80

A human rights intervention 83

Post-death work 84

No 'First Fit' clinic in life or death 86

Connor's do 89

Chapter 5 Death of a Service User 97

Mother-blame 100

CQC report and inquiries 101

Introducing 'natural causes' 104

Death by Indifference 106

Criticisms of Southern Health and its responses 108

Dirty lenses and human rights 110

Chapter 6 The Seeds of Justice for LB 115

A devastating discovery 120

Gaining momentum and friends 123

107 days of action 126

Chapter 7 The Waiting Game 138

Death anniversaries 142

Chapter 8 A Very Adversarial Affair 151

Securing a jury 155

The final pre-inquest hearing 158

The #JusticeforLB quilt - unifying experiences 161

Summer 2015: Verita 2 and the Mazars findings 164

1 October 2015: the week before the inquest 166

Chapter 9 The Inquest 169

The Coroner's Court 171

The jury 173

The family room 176

Early days 178

The locked door and continued seizure denial 180

Dr Murphy and more 182

Mother-blame revisited 183

Chapter 10 Taking the Stand 188

An earlier death 188

Giving evidence 192

The jury retire 198

The determination 200

Chapter 11 Stumbling into Scandal 209

The Mazars findings 209

LB's story spreads 212

A voicemail message 215

The extraordinary board meeting 216

Chapter 12 Crime and Justice 221

Jeremy Hunt 224

Introducing the mermaids 225

Rolling heads 227

#JusticeforLB fights on 230

#CaminoLB 234

Chapter 13 Justice for Connor Sparrowhawk and All the Young Dudes 240

Appendix A The Connor Manifesto 248

What does #JusticeforLB look like? 248

Appendix B The Cast of #107Daysofaction 251

Acknowledgements 270

Editorial Reviews

A searingly powerful book.

Sarah Holmes MBE

This account of a parent's experience brings to light the vital need to really listen, understand and work alongside people with learning disabilities and their families to ensure that care and support is right for them.

Lyn Romeo

The echoes of those who no longer speak... no candy coating, it is what it is; a tragedy born from negligence. To quote: 'At the heart of this story is love'. Love 'mobilised a social movement' and love keeps hope alive. Not a good read, a must read.

Dr Wenn B. Lawson

This is a book that should never have needed to be written - young "dudes" like Connor should not die untimely deaths and families should not have to fight for justice. However, it is a book that most definitely needs to be read and used to effect change

Ruth Northway OBE FRCN PFHE

A truly remarkable book that should never have had to be written, and that should be read by literally anyone who cares about their fellow human being; Sara brings beauty to her narrative, juxtaposed to the brutal ugliness of the subject matter, juxtaposed to the heart wrenching loving memory of a son taken from his family before his time. An emotional roller coaster made even more poignant by reason that the text is so tragically not fictional.

Dr Luke Beardon

This brilliantly written book is so many things. It's a story of love and loss, a story of people dying preventable deaths because our society doesn't care enough, a story of how what started as one family's battle for accountability turned into a social movement.

Dr Jenny Morris OBE

The heart of this story rises above a narrative of private grief and public failure by offering a powerful eulogy to the sheer force of love, especially the personality and character of Connor Sparrowhawk that helped inspire a social movement for truth, justice and accountability. Everyone committed to accountable public services should read this book and learn from it.

Richard Humphries

This is a story that needs to reach as wide an audience as possible. Only then will people such as Connor receive the care and protection they are entitled to.

Gail McKeitch

This is, rightly, a book which makes difficult reading for anyone professionally invested in any part of the system - for exactly the same reasons, it should make compulsory reading.

Alex Ruck Keene

This is a beautifully written and deeply moving account of a mother's love for her son. It is a book about how a social movement, inspired by the quest for justice, continues to seek accountability and change following Connor Sparrowhawk's needless death. This book deserves to be read widely and for people to take action from it. #JusticeForLB

Rhidian Hughes

A salutary lesson on what happens when public services lose their heart and forget that they exist to serve the public and, in particular, be part of addressing the prejudices and disadvantage that are inherent in our society.

Rob Greig CBE

What happened to Connor shows that people with learning disabilities are still not treated as human beings like everyone else. Professionals need to listen to people with learning disabilities and their families and friends about what their care should be.

Gary Bourlet

Anyone who cares about patient safety and fairness should read this book. It will make you cry, it will make you laugh, it will make you think, and I would be amazed if it did not make you passionate about changing things.

Peter Walsh