Child sex abuse hysteria and the Ellis case
	Focus on People - Hall of Fame > The wisdom of Gordon Waugh
	Gordon Waugh January 6 2005 ACC Compensation Letter sent to the Editor, NZ Herald (Unpublished) by Gordon Waugh, Auckland ACC compensation was never meant to be a Lotto prize, but is now! ACC has disclosed it paid more than 800 people a one-off compensation payment. Many are sexual abuse claimants.   Nearly 50 were given more than $100,000 each, and at least 130 are receiving an annual salary of $95,000 a year through the ACC's weekly compensation scheme. Spokesman Fraser Folster has previously said: "ACC does not provide cover and entitlements for sexual abuse per se, but for mental injury arising from sexual abuse. The diagnosis of mental injury is based on clinical medical evidence (such as) an X-ray indicating internal damage to organs or bones." Claimants are not required to provide proof of sexual abuse, but ACC uses "accredited health providers" to determine whether a mental injury arose from it. I invite ACC to explain how mental injuries can arise from an event which has not been proven to have occurred; what symptoms or indicators support a clinical diagnosis that a claimant was mentally injured by sexual abuse; and how all other pre-existing psychological conditions and events in the claimant's life are separated from those alleged to be the consequences of sexual abuse.