Natasha Colley Wiki
Natasha Colley Biography
Who is Natasha Colley ?
A mother who sued the NHS for £7.3m over mistakes she said left her daughter “significantly dependent on a wheelchair” is now facing jail after it was discovered she sang, danced and He acted as the protagonist in a theatrical show.
Natasha Colley filed a lawsuit in 2016, alleging that her daughter Megan Colley, who was born with displaced hips, was left severely disabled because doctors failed to correct the problem during operations when she was younger.
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust admitted a breach of duty in the way operations were carried out on Megan, now 21, valuing the claim at around £65,000.
But Ms Colley, acting as her daughter’s litigation friend, demanded a whopping £7.3 million, claiming that mistakes meant Megan was left “significantly dependent on an outdoor wheelchair with consequent dependency, such as people had to push her.”
Investigation
However, investigations showed Megan had taken a degree course in performing arts, and surveillance videos and social media posts showed her standing up, singing, dancing and acting with no apparent difficulty, says the NHS Trust.
This included playing the lead in a production of Jack and the Beanstalk, although her mother insists that she “wasn’t a leading part” and that she was “rarely onstage”.
Megan was hailed as a ‘strong dancer’ and a ‘star pupil’ by her course tutors, who, NHS lawyers said, expressed ‘shock’ to learn she was said to be severely disabled.
The compensation claim never went to trial as Megan withdrew support from her days before she arrived in court.
But now her mother is facing an application from the NHS Trust to have her jailed for contempt of court for allegedly lying about her daughter’s disabilities.
Megan is not being held in contempt of court and her mother stands by what she said about her daughter’s condition, claiming that the performances were held on ‘good morning’ with the help of strong painkillers and then left in secret agony.
Sitting in the High Court in London, Judge Bourne heard that Megan was born in July 2000 and suffered from hip dysplasia.
Her mother, who is from Hull and works in a chip shop, is accused of making four false statements about the impact on her daughter of mistakes made in surgery to correct hip problems when she was a child. .
The NHS admitted fault, but claimed that £65,500 would compensate Megan for two unnecessary operations she would have to undergo, in addition to the fact that she might have to undergo hip replacements sooner than her condition would have required.
However, Natasha insisted that due to her mistakes, Megan had needed a wheelchair for much of the time when she was in school and later when she was in college pursuing a performing arts degree.
She claimed that her daughter was so severely disabled that she deserved compensation of £7.3m, which was later revised to £5.5m after surveillance evidence was revealed.
Statement
Caroline Harrison QC of the NHS Trust told the judge they had collected statements from Hull College tutors who taught her during her performing arts degree, who said they were “shocked” or “amazed” by allegations of mobility difficulties. .
She also raised questions over similar phrases being used in witness statements put in by members of staff from the college and Megan’s former school.
One staff member told Ms Jones that she had been asked questions about Megan and answered orally, but her statement had been written by a solicitor for the NHS Trust and she had later read and approved it.
“They described her energetic work on stage, including dancing,” she said.
‘Her guardians of hers do not support any special arrangements that she makes or requires.
‘The guardians do not recognize the portrait of her disability that her mother paints.
“His experience with her was as a star student, a strong dancer and singer who did not shy away from energetic dancing, who did not need help changing clothes or shoes, and who showed no signs of pain, distress or difficulty after performances,” He said.
Video
The court was shown surveillance video of Megan performing in stage productions of shows including Oliver, Jack and the Beanstalk and Beauty and the Beast.
Megan had also posted videos online on social media of herself showing her standing and singing, and she stated that she had played leading roles in shows and that she wanted to “build a career in acting and modeling.” “.
‘I can sing, dance and act, and I also love to entertain,’ reads one post.
Ms Harrison told the judge that in August 2018, Megan signed an apprenticeship agreement with the university, stating that she was “not a wheelchair user”.
When she brought a wheelchair to college, she was in it for a short time, which the attorney says “supports the suggestion that she was an accessory rather than actually necessary.”
Ms Harrison admitted that modifications had to be made to accommodate Megan’s hip problems when dancing became more ‘technically challenging’ later in her course, but went on to state that her hips ‘seemed to give her occasional transient problems’ .
However, Natasha Colley “maintains that it is true that her daughter used a wheelchair at Hull College and that she sometimes had a teaching assistant push her,” the lawyer told the judge.
“In response to (the NHS Trust’s) reliance on the evidence about her daughter’s stage appearances, she accepted that she knew about these parties, although they were not mentioned in the underlying claim, but seeks to downplay the involvement of her.
“For example, she claims that the role of Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk “was not a leading role, he rarely appeared on stage.”
“In addition, Natasha Colley claims that her daughter’s stage work caused her substantial pain and discomfort that no one else witnessed, but that she had to do it because she was part of her class.”
Natasha told the court that her daughter had used painkillers to enable her to walk on the days she was filmed and that she had good days and bad days.
But the lawyer insisted that she was guilty of “misrepresentation related to the exaggeration of her daughter’s mobility and disability” and claimed that Megan “barely used a wheelchair but had … normal mobility in terms of walking using stairs and access public transportation.
Natasha Colley Quick and Facts
- Natasha Colley claimed daughter Megan was left severely disabled by blunders
- Hull NHS Trust admitted breach of duty and valued her claim at £65,000
- But the mother demanded £7.3m, claiming Megan was left reliant on wheelchair
- Yet evidence shows the 21-year-old singing, dancing and performing in shows
