SS
I don't think (and never said) that any 'blame' should be apportioned to the controller. They seem to have followed SOP and certainly it wasn't ATC who got the poor bloke into the situation in the first place.
My question was whether or not a change in ATC policy to ensure that if a controller receives a distressed call they check to make sure the aircraft is stable before issuing further instructions would be a good idea? Of course the controller was not to know the severity of the event and while the pilot may have been in a blind panic, it MAY just have been that a calm voice telling him to go 'bar to bar' would have ASSISTED to calm him down enough to recover the situation.
Accepted that with a finger firmly help on the tx trigger no information or help will get through and hence I'm still convinced that the emphasis during the PPL/CPL(H) courses should be the training of IMC avoidance and poor weather appreciation, not the wasteful flogging around the sky with goggles on.