Well, his maths teacher rang up yesterday, and has offered to tutor my brother free of charge, once he’s feeling up to it. So that’s two out of his three A-levels sorted out. If his physics teacher can’t or won’t offer him extra help (she’s not really one who listens to students :rolleyes:), then I will go home every weekend and tutor my brother in physics myself.
He’s feeling a lot better in himself now, which is due, in part, to him not being on such high doses of painkillers anymore, and also in part to your kind wishes. He’s amazed that people who don’t know him can be so caring and sympathetic. Thank you all.
Its just going to be a matter of waiting now; for surgery, then seeing how well he recovers from that, and then what needs to be done about his eye.
It seems like there’s quite the scandal at your brother’s school, if teachers are calling up offering to tutor him for free. (I’m a little confused about sixth forms and A-Levels and all that. How old is your brother?) Have you called his physics teacher?
Couple of thoughts…do your parents have a lawyer yet? Tell them to tell fuckwit’s parents not to contact them again. They need to go through the attorney. Your parents should not have to deal with their whiny, “But he’s such a good boy he didn’t mean it please don’t mess up his future over one little incident” on top of everything else.
I know you don’t have medical expenses, but can you sue for pain and suffering, as Lynn suggested? The fact that your brother is not going to walk away from this with just a black eye should be a huge factor. Sue the parents, sue the school, sue the school administrating board in your area.
Does he have any friends at school that can “spread the word” about your brother’s condition? That ought to keep things riled up.
I’m glad to see you guys are fighting this, and not letting fuckwit get away with it. He needs to learn Mommy can’t protect him forever.
Thank you ivylass. I haven’t been in contact with his physics teacher yet. I may well talk to my brother and drop her an email to sort stuff out. The teachers are outraged it seems, that someone could do this. My brother is generally seen as a very likeable and pleasant young man. He’s 18, compulsory education in the UK stops at 16. Sixth Form and A-levels tend to be preparation for university.
My parents have got an attorney, well, a solicitor - but same difference, and we’re going through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board at the moment. My brother is the one who has to pursue this, since he’s not a minor, so he’ll get legal aid, and won’t have to pay legal costs. It appears that he’ll probably be awarded something of the order of a few thousand pounds for it.
His friends are spreading the word. They’re not letting it rest.
I have to say, one side-issue that this is showing is how differently this would be handled in the UK and the US. Over here your brother gets legal aid and no medical bills to worry about, but is far less likely to sue the perpetrator for a large amount of money. In the US he’d pretty much be obliged to sue Fuckwit, to cover the medical and legal bills if nothing else. I’m not passing any value judgments - it’s just interesting how different the systems are.
Angua, you should bring your brother along to a Londope when he’s well enough - after all, I do!
Angua, please accept my condolences for your brother’s condition. It’s a good thing for your brother’s assailant to answer to these charges. If he gets away with assault, who knows what he’ll think he can get away with next? The next time, his actions may be so terrible that not even his mommy can get him out of trouble, and he’ll face some really harsh consequences. I congratulate your parents on standing firm on making this hoodlum face up to his responsibilities.
I hate it when people, (in this case the boys parents,) try to make sound like it’s the victims fault for ruining the boys life. That boy ruined his own life when he punched your brother.
I hope your brother has a speedy and pain free recovery from his surgery.
I’m sending my best wishes to your brother and you all. I hope he succeeds in “pressing home the point” that such behavior is completely unacceptable in a civilized society, and that he can’t be sheilded from consequences forever.
Just been talking to my brother, and the police have gathered enough evidence now to charge and arrest fuckwit. He’s going to be arrested and charged on Friday. If he pleads guilty, then its a simple matter of sentencing. If he pleads not guilty, which I really don’t think he can do, then its over to the courts for a full blown hearing.
My brother’s back in hospital tomorrow, and surgery is scheduled for near the end of the week.
Just replying to say how shocked and sorry I am that this has happened. I’m glad that your brother seems to have such excellent support from his family, though appalled at the attitude the school have taken.
I know it’s not ideal and your brother probably wants to get on with things (I know I would have at the same age) but have you/has he considered him having a year off and taking the A levels next year? He’s obviously very bright and it sounds like he’ll have good help, but trying to finish his A levels on top of such serious surgery and disruption sounds like an awful lot to take on. It should be reasonably easy to get his university places deferred, and I can’t imagine anyone would take issue with him doing that.
I’ve been following this thread from the beginning. I can’t express how angry this has made me.
I hope your brother makes a speedy recovery and there aren’t any lasting damages, Angua.
I also admire you and your family for not allowing fuckwit to get away with this. Too often people allow things like this to go unpunished due to fear and/or pressure from others.
Please keep us updated and let us know if there is anything we can do to help.
Hey guys. Thanks again for all your kind words - we really do appreciate it. Surgery, it seems, is scheduled for the middle of this week, and he should be out of hospital by the weekend. Its going to be a long recovery however, and he’s going to need further surgery to correct some minor damage to his eye - the cornea I think.
Bosda, we’re going through the Criminal Injury Compensation Board, which will award more damages, than just suing the pants of the bastard’s family.
rekkah, he just wants to get on with things, and prove that nothing’s going to set him back. Knowing my brother, it’ll probably be more detrimental to him to repeat the year.
Angua, this is just horrible.
I can’t believe anyone would do that, and I can’t believe anyone whose child did it would try to let him off. Give your brother my love to add on the pile.
I hope your mum is a good cook, from what I’ve seen of NHS “cuisine” the halal option could end up being cheese sandwiches.
Since there’s nothing wrong with his intestines, he’s a growing boy and those painkillers need to be taken on a full stomach, you’ll all have lots of excuses to bring him yummy treats.
The other thing I wanted to mention was that as well as tutoring etc, your folks should think about getting all the documentation together for the exam board. If this doesn’t warrant “special consideration” in his A-levels, nothing does.
I¡¦ve been promising you this info, but the darn huddled masses have been yearning to be free, and it seems that they are demonstrating on my desk at the moment. So I will be uncustomarily brief.
Medical literature searching tips for non-medical people (but who have brains and research skills):
„h Being a grad student, you have developed all sorts of skills in searching academic periodicals. The same skillset applies to medical literature. Depending on how much time you want to invest, your friendly local reference librarian is your best friend. (I think I have to name my first 4 children after the Slavics librarians at my grad school.)
„h See if your brother and/or parents can give you some of the applicable medical terminology for your brother¡¦s condition(s) (what bones are involved, parts of the eye/brain, etc.; the more technical, the better. Be careful of alternate terminology; for example, in my situation I discovered that a fracture that doesn¡¦t heal properly ¡V or at all ¡V is sometimes called a ¡§delayed union¡¨ and sometimes called a ¡§non-union.¡¨ I have a funny story about that which relates to how I injured my leg, but I digress.). These will give you ideas for keywords for your search. Be expansive in your searching; you never know where it will lead you when you are trying to develop questions to ask the docs.
„h Sites on which to search medical journals:
American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (www.aaos.org)
I’ve been following this from the begining, and I just wanted to add my love and support to the pile as well. I can’t believe anyone would try and defend someone who would do something so viscious, even if they are his parents!
I’m sure the surgery will go perfectly, and he’ll be up and about it no time. It doesn’t sound like your brother is someone who will let a little damaged eye stop him for too long! Good luck on his recovery, and on his A-levels and university. He definitely deserves the best!