SIMON ABBOTT'S INQUEST - WILL IT TELL THE REAL STORY?

Dear Readers,

         The inquest into the death of my son Simon Abbott is scheduled to take place early next month in the Channel Island of Jersey. Hopefully this will clear up some of the mysteries surrounding his early demise at the age of 47.

         One of the main questions that needs to be answered is this: Did two years of relentless cyber-bullying coupled with one or perhaps two assaults contribute to his death. 

         He died in hospital on Monday 17 June this year after collapsing at a café in St Helier, the Island’s capital.

         The very thorough post mortem was done by Dr Russell Delaney who concluded that the cause of death was severe coronary artery atherosclerosis. In layman’s language this was hardening of the artery, one of the leading causes of heart attacks.

         His report refers to some disturbing things that happened to Simon in the year before he died and touches on what turned out to be deplorable treatment he received at Jersey’s General Hospital.

         The General Practice notes, Dr Delaney wrote, indicated that he had attended in September 2012 complaining of headache following several assaults involving punches to the head. A CT scan showed no abnormality and the post mortem did not show any changes to suggest that a previous assault contributed to his death in any way. There was an attendance prior to that for headache. He was known to suffer from anxiety.

         Simon claimed to have been assaulted by Ian le Sueur, a freelance photographer on the Island and close friend of BBC Jersey radio presenter Murray Norton.

IAN LE SUEUR

         And it was around September 2012 that he began libel actions in Jersey’s Royal Court against these two and six other people he claimed had defamed him on social media.

         But what Dr Delaney didn’t mention, no doubt because he was unaware of it, was what happened when Simon went to hospital.

Jacques Chartier was in one of the wards last year when Simon came in. This is what he told me: Simon mentioned he had been assaulted and was a bit agitated, but still polite to everyone. He did not get any help from the staff and I explained that it had taken four days for someone to speak to me. Simon asked to see a doctor and while making his complaint he asked the doctor to take notes.

A few minutes later he asked to see the doctor’s pad and it was blank.  Simon was not at all happy, so he signed himself out and went home.

To say that this was shocking would be a remissful understatement. But that was not the end of it, there was more.

Dr Delaney reported that Simon also attended A&E (Accident and Emergency Department at the Jersey Hospital) in early June complaining of chest pains. No abnormality was noted on ECG and he was reassured.

A court hearing in relation to Simon’s libel action was held on Friday 14 June 2013 and Jacques saw him the following day.

He was happy that he was progressing with his court case, Jacques told me. He complained of being out of breath and feeling chest and arm pains (As a layman I believe these are classic signs of an impending heart attack). I told him he should go and see a doctor and he said he had been to the A&E and they told him there was nothing wrong with him.

       There was so little wrong with him that TWO DAYS later he was dead.

         According to Dr Delaney Simon had not been under the influence of alcohol or any of the common drugs of abuse. That was comforting otherwise the bullies would no doubt have used that to slander him still further even though he was dead.

         The doctor concluded his report by saying, I note the history of possible ‘cyber-bulling’. It is recognised that acutely stressful events can be associated with sudden cardiac death when there is a clear temporal relationship between such an event and the sudden death. In this case it would appear that any such stressful event was occurring over a long-term basis, and in my opinion there is no causal link between this and his sudden death.   

         Dr Delaney doesn’t seem to have taken into account the fact that for Simon the cyber-bullying was no doubt an acutely stressful event that happened almost on a daily basis for something like two years right up until the time he died.

         The doctor’s use of the words possible ‘cyber bullying’ implies that this might not have happened when there is amply proof that this did happen over an extended period.

         However in an article headed Stress Breaks Hearts. Emotional Stress Alters Heart Function, Ups Heart Disease Risk, Daniel DeNoon of WebMD Health News reported on the findings of Daniel Brotman, MD, director of the hospitalist programme at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, USA.

         Brotman’s study concluded: 

·      People who suffer chronic anxiety are more likely than others to suffer heart attack and sudden heart death. 

·      Emotional trauma such as the death of a spouse, mental or physical abuse increases the risk of heart attack and heart death. (In Simon’s case his sister died after his mother had already died and not long afterwards the cyber-bulling began and he was also assaulted, evidently in relation to this cyber-bulling) 

·      Even when intense bouts of emotion (like Simon had because of the cyber-bullying) don’t kill, they may cause long-lasting heart damage.

 

            So according to this study what Simon endured not long after losing his mother and then his sister and only sibling, which left him essentially alone in Jersey without the support of a single relative, made the stress caused by the cyber-bullying a very likely link to his sudden death.

Here’s one of the worst examples of what Simon had to contend with on one occasion after Norton had set the ball rolling on Facebook and others joined in.

Edgar Steinberg

From what I read I would like to see this man seriously being hit on his face. Twice. Honestly. 

Simon Soar

I'd donate money to charity to see that.

         Even on the day he died somebody couldn’t resist having a final dig at Simon.

         And probably the same person sent me this comment for a post I wrote about the funeral of my daughter Samantha who committed suicide.

 

Of course it was Anonymous. This kind of person doesn’t have the guts to be named. What’s the opposite to the Victoria Cross?

         We will now have to wait for the inquest to see what happens.    

Regards,

         Jon