Parents branded child abusers by NHS 'いじめ（る）s'... 簡単に for 辞退するing a heel prick 実験（する） on their newborn baby?

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It should have been the most joyous moment of their lives, one they would look 支援する on 情愛深く for years to come.?

But for Tony Shepherd and his ポーランドの（人） fiancee Viola, the weeks after the birth of their baby were filled with 不信, followed by desperation and finally 完全な terror ? when a small 行為／法令／行動する of perfectly 合法的な 反抗 led the NHS to brand them child abusers.

The couple could never have imagined that their 拒絶 to have a simple heel prick 実験（する） for their son would 増大する into a 十分な-blown 調査 by midwives, social 労働者s and even the police; or that before their son Charlie was even three weeks old, he would have to 耐える two intimate 内部の examinations.

脅すd to return: Tony, 42, and his fiancee Viola, 28, with their son Charlie at their ポーランドの（人） home last week

Although 完全に exonerated, the couple were so appalled by the 出来事/事件 that they left the country.

Today, in an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の interview from their home in Babiak, Poland, the couple 明らかにする／漏らす the hair-raising sequence of events that drove them to the 辛勝する／優位 of despair and nearly lost them their child for ever.

They have 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な questions about the 的s that 運動 so much health service 手続き and the 欠如（する） of communication between NHS 信用s ? two 問題／発行するs they believe 嘘（をつく） at the heart of their ordeal.

Now they ーするつもりである to take 合法的な 活動／戦闘. ‘We have been dealt with appallingly,’ says Tony, 42. ‘The NHS has robbed us of the joy of having a newborn child.’

After seven years together, Tony, a former stockbroker and owner of a 合法的な services 会社／堅い, and Viola, 28, an architect, were overjoyed when Charlie was born at Whiston Hospital in Merseyside last June.

Apart from a cephalhematoma ? a swelling on the 長，率いる that is a ありふれた birth 傷害 and usually （疑いを）晴らすs up within weeks ? Charlie was healthy. But the couple’s problems began when a midwife from Whiston visited the new parents at Tony’s mother’s home in Knowsley.

Recommended: In a heel prick 実験（する）, 血?is taken from the baby’s foot to be 審査するd for 条件s 含むing cystic fibrosis and sickle 独房 病気

‘She didn’t phone ? she just turned up,’ Tony 解任するs. ‘She seemed forthright and 権威主義者; looking 負かす／撃墜する her nose.’ The midwife told them she would do a heel prick 実験（する）, in which 血 is taken from the baby’s foot to be 審査するd for a 範囲 of 条件s 含むing cystic fibrosis and sickle 独房 病気. It is not a compulsory 手続き, but she seemed insistent.

‘She didn’t ask our 許可,’ Tony says. ‘We didn’t know what this 実験（する） was, so asked her. She said it was something they do which looks for 条件s in the baby.

‘I asked what 条件s 正確に／まさに, but she couldn’t tell me.

‘We like to know the 推論する／理由s for doing 実験（する）s so I advised her that we would 研究 it and 接触する her if we 手配中の，お尋ね者 it done. She said, “That’s not how it wo rks I’m afraid.” ’

The midwife 結局 agreed to leave a number for the Liverpool community midwives’ office and left.

The couple returned to their seven-bedroom home in Aigburth, Liverpool, and were transferred to the care of Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

Seemingly unaware that they had already been visited by a Whiston midwife, one from LWH then phoned and said she would be visiting to do the heel prick 実験（する）. Tony and Viola calmly told her they were still deciding whether to have the 実験（する）.

‘That same midwife proceeded to call us 15 times,’ Tony says. ‘I own a 合法的な services company so I know what 構成するs いやがらせ.’

At 5.30pm that day the exhausted new parents, who were napping, woke to the sound of the buzzer to their gated 所有物／資産／財産. Someone seemed 決定するd to reach them. ‘It continued for 15 minutes,’ Tony says. He 結局 opened the door to find a woman in a midwife’s uniform.

‘She said, “So you are in then?” like I was a naughty schoolboy,’ Tony says.

Turning point: The couple’s problems began when a midwife from Whiston Hospital, pictured, where Charlie was born, visited the new parents at Tony’s mother’s home in Knowsley to 成し遂げる the heel prick 実験（する）

The midwife said she was there to do Charlie’s heel prick 実験（する）. Tony says: ‘She said, “Listen to me, it’s going to be done today whether you like it or not because it has to be done within ten days.” She then put her 手渡す on my chest and tried to 押し進める past me into our home. I managed to 押し進める her away and の近くに the door. I told her if she didn’t leave, I’d phone the police.’

The midwife in question 否定するs any physical 接触する.

によれば NHS 指導基準s, the 血 位置／汚点／見つけ出す (heel prick) 実験（する） is 申し込む／申し出d to parents of babies in the UK from when they are five days old and up to one year of age.

Although 審査 is 堅固に recommended, parents can 拒絶する／低下する. Tony believes he knows the real 推論する／理由 the midwife was so insistent on getting the 実験（する） done: 的s.?

Relocated: The family at their home in Poland, where healthcare is 'light years' ahead of the NHS, によれば Mr Shephard

‘We were told by friends that midwives have 的s to get the heel prick 実験（する） done,’ Tony says.

‘There’s 巨大な 圧力 on midwives, but there’s also the culture that you will just do as you’re told. We 自然に question everything.’

によれば Public Health England, individual NHS 信用s 目的（とする） to get 95 per cent of newborn babies 実験（する）d before they are eight days old.

Things got more serious still when the couple were visited by two 制服を着た police officers.

Tony 解任するs: ‘The officer explained they had received a 報告（する）／憶測 説 we had 辞退するd prenatal care ? we hadn’t ? and now were 辞退するing postnatal care. They 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see if Charlie was 承認する.’

The officers seemed to have a particular 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う in mind ? Tony.

‘They looked around a couple of 床に打ち倒すs and asked Viola, “Is there anybody you know stopping you from having care?” In other words me. ’ Later that day it was the turn of Liverpool Social Services.

‘They said they’d had 報告（する）／憶測s from LWH that we were 辞退するing care.

‘They looked in every room and asked lots of questions: how long had we been together; whether Charlie was planned; how and what we fed Charlie; how we changed him ? we 論証するd this and they took 公式文書，認めるs. They asked Viola if she was under duress. They said, “We think your partner may be 辞退するing care in some way because it’s usually your partner who speaks.

‘ ‘‘Are you 許すd to speak, are you in any form of danger? Is your partner violent に向かって you?” ’

Viola says: ‘I’m not a person who sits 静かに and lets Tony make the 決定／判定勝ち（する）s. It was horrible and embarrassing. When they left they said, “If you do want to tell us some time in the 未来, that’s 承認する.”'

Tony 追加するs: ‘I don’t have any form of police 記録，記録的な／記録する. I’m a professional person. To feel that I was 存在 labelled as something I’m not was terrible.’

After admitting there were no care 問題／発行するs, the social 労働者s apologised and left.

But this was not the end of the couple’s problems.

関心d that the cephalhematoma 傷害 on Charlie’s 長，率いる had not changed, Tony and Viola asked their health 訪問者 for advice. They were 敏速に sent to their GP.

審査: A second midwife from Liverpool Women's Hospital, pictured, also arrived to do the heel 実験（する）

‘She took Charlie from us, 診察するd his 長，率いる and referred us 緊急に to Alder Hey Hospital,’ Tony says. ‘We were 極端に worried. On the way to the hospital I was terrified. I felt that because of the midwives, the police and social services visits, this was snowballing. I thought they were going to take Charlie from us.’

Once at the hospital, the couple read through the 公式文書，認めるs the GP had sent with them and were horrified to discover a 十分な run-負かす／撃墜する of the visits from the midwives, police and social 労働者s.

Tony’s いわゆる ‘controlling’, ‘unusual’ and ‘strange’ behaviour had been flagged up, as had his 拒絶 to 許す a heel prick 実験（する）.

Worse was a letter from the couple’s GP who had 示唆するd, in light of their 公式文書，認めるs, that Charlie’s 長，率いる lump could be an ‘NAI’ ? a 非，不，無-偶発の 傷害. ‘That meant they were putting us 今後 for child 乱用,’ Tony says. ‘I broke 負かす／撃墜する at that point.’

Viola 追加するs: ‘We would never 攻撃する，衝突する Charlie. I couldn’t believe we could be in this 状況／情勢.’

After an agonising hour-long wait, Tony and Viola saw the 顧問.

‘We told him we were 存在 victimised and 悩ますd but he wasn’t 利益／興味d. He 診察するd Charlie from 最高の，を越す to toe. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 us to change Charlie’s nappy and at that point he 診察するd Charlie’s genitals and anus. My GP friend later told me that this was to see if we had 乱用d him.’

The 顧問 確認するd that the lump was a simple cephalhematoma and asked why they had 辞退するd the heel prick 実験（する）.

‘I explained that we hadn’t 辞退するd it but that no one could explain it to us. The 顧問 talked it through and we had it done then and there. All we 手配中の，お尋ね者 was for someone to tell us what it was for.’

Charlie then 耐えるd a second 徹底的な examination, by another 顧問. The couple had gone in at 6.30pm and left, exhausted, at 2.30am. ‘We were both 極端に upset,’ Tony says.

The に引き続いて day, the distraught couple, who had been planning to 結局 retire to Poland, wrote a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of プロの／賛成のs and 反対／詐欺s of moving there or staying in Britain.

‘The bigges t 反対／詐欺 of staying in Britain was 潜在的に having our son taken from us or 取引，協定ing with the NHS on a continual basis,’ Tony says. ‘That tipped the balance.’

The 決定／判定勝ち（する） made, they put their home up for rent and left for Poland two weeks later.

To those who may 解任する their 決定／判定勝ち（する） as 極端に 劇の, Tony 主張するs: ‘It’s not 膝-jerk if you’ve been through what we’ve been through. I’m 脅すd to go 支援する to the UK in 事例／患者 something happens.

‘If Charlie fell and broke an arm and needed hospital 治療, would there be a red 旗 against our 指名する? Are we going to be on a 登録（する）? Will Charlie be thought of as an 乱用d child? Our GP friend said that once you had a red 旗 against your 指名する, it never goes.

‘Poland is a third-world country in some ways, but when it comes to care they seem light years ahead of the NHS.

‘The NHS should be a public service, but it’s 存在 made into individual 商売／仕事s using 私的な subcontractors who have 的s that need to be 越えるd each year.’

Viola now says that she would be afraid to have another child 支援する in Britain.

John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley and chairman of the 司法（官） For Families （選挙などの）運動をする group, said he understood the couple’s 苦しめる.

‘The system could decide that they are “unwilling to co-operate with professionals” and put their baby up for 採択,’ he 追加するd. ‘You can see the health and care 部門 getting more and more 積極的な in the way people are 扱う／治療するd.’

Tony and Viola want to 株 their experience to help others. ‘We can’t be the only ones who have experienced this,’ he says. ‘Parents have 権利s. 研究 your 権利s and don’t be afraid to say no.’

Dianne Brown, director of nursing and midwifery at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, said: ‘The midwife followed 信用 指導基準s. Neither the midwife nor Liverpool Women’s referred the family 直接／まっすぐに to social services or the police. LWH believe the midwife behaved in a professional and appropriate manner and have received no formal （民事の）告訴.’

A 広報担当者 for Whiston Hospital said: ‘The 信用’s community midwife visited for a 決まりきった仕事 postnatal check two days after Charlie’s birth. No 審査 実験（する）s were carried out during this visit, but it was discussed with the parents and advice given.’

The couple’s GP failed to 答える／応じる to requests for comment.?