Friday 20 November 1998.  11:00 AM

The good Dr. Polon never reported to the Department.

I decided yesterday to start closing the last few doors in the AJ Saga and I placed a telephone call to Dr. Polon.   

Dr. Polon was the first Paediatrician.  We were referred to him by Dr. Huckstepp (Suzanne's' Dr of ten years) and saw him on 22 June 98.

The appointment was pretty plain to be honest.  He weighed, measured, probed, carried and poked AJ around the room a few times.

He then asked if we had any concerns, which of course we didn't. He stated that if we had any future concerns feel free to come back and see him, but he can't find anything wrong and all seemed to be progressing fairly normal.  If the weight flattens out be more concerned but if it follows the path then don't worry.

Why do I bring this up?  Well in the Letter to Marina (our Solicitor) the Department makes reference to Dr. Polon in respect of a June Notification.  A Notification we never knew about.

On no, don't get the wrong Idea, Dr. Polon was as surprised a I was.  He said he never provided any report or had any contact with the Department - at all.  In fact there was only one letter in the file and that was to Dr. Huckstepp confidentially providing a report as to the outcome of the appointment.

I'll quote the Departments words so there is no misunderstanding:

The Department received an initial notification in June 1998 indicating that in eight weeks Adam had only gained 600 grams in weight and his parents were reluctant to follow medical advice.  We were also informed that an appointment with a paediatrician, Dr. Polon, had been arranged for 22 June 1998.   Following the appointment, Dr. Polon reported to the Department that although Adam's weight was only just in the third centile, his weight gain seemed to have improved slightly since his mother had begun expressing milk and topping this up in a bottle.   Dr. Polon stated that in view of Adam's improvement, he would not be investigating further.  Based on this information the Department decided that this matter did not require a home visit by departmental officers.

Now, if you read that, do you feel the tense of time changes from the first part up to "Following the appointment" ?  This makes it appear the Department were informed prior to June 22 that a matter existed and that after June 22 further information was received by the Department from the Doctor.

Now how is this possible if the information we now have says that the Notification was made on June 24?  Does the Department have even more to answer to?  Are they fabricating even the June report now?

It's a shame we didn't go to Dr. Polon in September, perhaps some of these issues would have come to light faster but we couldn't take the chance that Huckstepp or the Department might have any influence on the Doctor we wished to see.  Especially after the events on 22 September at Huckstepp's surgery.

At least now we know two really good Paediatricians.  If you ever need one in Sydney, contact us and we'll tell you where they are.  They are both great.

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