- Joined
- Jan 29, 2021
One of the terrible things here is if you are in really bad shape, and you don't know how the system works, it makes no effort to explain itself to you. There is also a kind of shitty catch-22 where in order to qualify for SSI you HAVE to have a professional diagnosis, but a lot of people can't afford the doctors to get one and then can't qualify for the help that would allow them to.You know what makes me extra MATI? The system in here in the UK has become so broken in an attempt to stop people playing the system that instead of stopping people scamming the gov for money their actions lead to things like this man with anxiety so bad he couldn't leave his house or even contact the government for the assessments, having his money stopped for failing to return their communications and starved to death in his flat because the government didn't bother looking for any reasons as to why he might not have been returning their calls/letters. He weighed under 5 stone when his body was found by bailiffs breaking into his home to evict him.
But here's Lou needing his $250 for food because the meanie government won't pay him for being fatoh the humanity...
Man found starved to death after benefits stopped
Errol Graham weighed four-and-a-half stone when bailiffs found his body in his council flat.www.bbc.co.uk
Errol Graham death: Nottingham man starved after benefits stopped
Published29 January 2020
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image caption: Errol Graham had a history of depression which included an overdose
Relatives of a man who starved to death after his benefits were stopped have said the system is "not fit for purpose".
Errol Graham, 57, weighed four-and-a-half stone (30kg) when his body was found by bailiffs who broke into his Nottingham council flat to evict him.
An inquest found his loss of income was likely to have "caused huge distress".
His daughter-in-law Alison Turner said it was "heartbreaking... it's horrific for someone to die like that."
The case was raised in the Commons by Debbie Abrahams MP, where she called for an independent inquiry into cases where people had died after Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reviews of their care.
image caption: Mr Graham's last contact with officials was when approached about rent arrears
The inquest into Mr Graham's death in June 2018 heard he'd had a history of depression.
His GP and the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust agreed to have him sectioned in 2015, but he returned home to Pine View flats, Radford after a matter of days.
After this he was rarely seen, missing several GP appointments and refusing approaches from mental health teams.
Mr Graham also ignored repeated contact from the DWP and his employment and support allowance (ESA) was stopped in August 2017. This also affected his housing benefit, which ceased on 10 October.
'No food in the flat'
The last official contact was with housing provider Nottingham City Homes, which heard him shouting and punching a door during a visit in February 2018.
PC Emily Dunn told the inquest there were no signs Mr Graham had been injured but he "looked very thin".
She added there was no food in the property, other than a couple of tins of fish in the cupboard which were five years out of date.
The flat had no gas and probably no electricity, the inquest heard, with "significant mail" by the front door.
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The medical cause of death was recorded as starvation.
Assistant coroner Dr Elizabeth Didcock said: "The sudden loss of all income, and the threat of eviction that followed from it, will have caused huge distress and worry, and significant financial hardship.
"It is likely that this loss of income, and housing, were the final and devastating stressors, that had a significant effect on his mental health.
"The safety net that should surround vulnerable people like Errol in our society had holes within it."
image caption: MP Debbie Abrahams said the treatment of some claimants was a "serious concern"
Miss Turner told the BBC: "It is heartbreaking, horrific, for someone to die like that. The failure he suffered, he didn't deserve it.
"It is shocking. The system is not fit for purpose.
"He was without money for six to eight months.
"Errol could not physically bring himself to talk to strangers or ask for that level of help and if he hadn't have lost it he would still be here today."
Sophie Corlett, from mental health charity Mind, said: "It is the most vulnerable who we hear are slipping through the net.
"This gentleman and many people have lifelong conditions that are unlikely to change and yet they are recalled again and again for face to face assessments which people find very challenging."
The DWP said it was establishing a serious case panel to review its work.
A spokesman added: "This is a tragic, complex case and our sympathies are with Mr Graham's family."
People here suffer because people like Lou try to play the system.
There are multiple cases of shit like this happening here. Multiple ongoing inquests into the suicides of people who have had their money stopped because they are deemed well enough to work and provide for themselves. For example, a recent 9 day inquest into the death of a 29 year old woman here who killed herself after having her benefits reduced because the government lost her forms, and then was forced to attend a face-to-face assessment to have them reinstated despite warnings from her community mental health team contacting the benefits service before hand saying forcing her to do so would put her at real risk of having a breakdown because she was agoraphobic. She was also type 1 diabetic, but only a fraction of her past money was being given out for that as it wasn't disabling her- she was receiving money to help her live with extra costs caused by living with the condition. You could argue because of having diabetes, your food budget is increased and you must travel more often to hospital appointments/pharmacies to manage the condition, but it wasn't the reason she couldn't work. This benefit in the UK is not effected by your income and is meant to be something you receive along side any other wages etc to help with extra costs so you can still pay for rent etc.
Philippa Day: Flawed PIP system led to young mum’s death, says coroner
Flaws in the disability benefits system were “the predominant factor and the only acute factor” that led to a young disabled mother taking her own life, a coroner has concluded. Gordon Clow, assist…www.disabilitynewsservice.com
Philippa Day: Flawed PIP system led to young mum’s death, says coroner
By John Pring on 28th January 2021Category: Benefits and Poverty
ListenReadSpeaker webReader: ListenFocus
Flaws in the disability benefits system were “the predominant factor and the only acute factor” that led to a young disabled mother taking her own life, a coroner has concluded.
Gordon Clow, assistant coroner for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, yesterday (Wednesday) highlighted 28 separate “problems” with the administration of the personal independence payment (PIP) system that helped cause the death of 27-year-old Philippa Day, from Nottingham.
It took more than two hours for the coroner to read out his conclusions and findings, after a nine-day inquest* that uncovered multiple failings by both DWP and its private sector contractor Capita in the 11 months that led up to Philippa’s death in October 2019.
Clow ended by telling DWP and Capita that he had decided to issue them with prevention of future deaths (PFD) reports, which will force them to consider how to make changes to the PIP system to prevent further deaths of claimants.
DWP will now need to examine the mental health training given to its call handlers and its poor record-keeping, while Capita will have to examine the process for changing where and how assessments are carried out and ensure that letters issued about this process “are accurate and [do] not create unnecessary distress”.
He dismissed suggestions made by DWP and Capita during the inquest that only a few individual errors had been made in dealing with Philippa’s claim, and concluded instead that there were significant, systemic flaws.
The coroner said that Philippa (pictured) had been eligible for PIP throughout the 11 months at the enhanced rates for both mobility and daily living, that DWP could have obtained all the information it needed to ensure she received those benefits, and that she should not have been told she would have to attend a face-to-face assessment.
Among the 28 “problems” he highlighted were the repeated failures to record on her file that she needed additional support with her claim; and the mistaken decision to remove her benefits after DWP concluded wrongly she had no “good cause” for failing to return a claim form.
He also pointed to the failure to respond to the mental distress she displayed in a call to a DWP telephone agent; the refusal to allow Philippa a home assessment; and the “institutional reluctance” to accept evidence from professionals such as her community psychiatric nurse (CPN) over the telephone.
The 28th, and final, problem was Capita’s failure to accept, despite a phone call from her CPN on the day before she was found unconscious – and repeated earlier warnings – that “requiring a face-to-face assessment at a clinic placed Philippa’s safety at risk”.
The coroner concluded that there were “deficiencies in the system’s ability to process PIP claims without causing unnecessary distress to claimants”, including problems with training for call handlers and Capita disability assessors, DWP’s record-keeping, guidance on additional support for claimants, and inaccurate DWP correspondence.
He also said there was an “institutional working assumption at the DWP that documents which are not on the claimant’s file are missing because the claimant failed to send them in”.
Clow also pointed to flaws in Capita’s initial review and change of assessment processes.
Philippa’s unconscious body had been found by her sister and father on 8 August 2019, just days after she had been told she would need to attend an assessment centre for a face-to-face appointment to decide her PIP claim.
They found her lying on her bed at her home in Nottingham. On the pillow next to her was the letter from Capita telling her she would have to attend the appointment at the assessment centre in Nottingham.
She was taken to hospital but later died after more than two months in a coma.
The coroner did not reach a verdict of suicide, concluding instead that he could “not be satisfied that it was more likely than not that Philippa intended her death”, even though she was responsible for taking her own life.
But he did say he was “satisfied on balance of probabilities that Philippa intended to harm herself and to put her life in danger” by her actions on 7 or 8 August 2019, which led to her death.
He concluded that there were many factors that led to her decision to put her life in danger.
But he said that “the combined impact of successive destabilising incidents caused by the problems in the handling of her benefits claim was… the predominant factor, and the only acute factor” which led to that decision.
Philippa had been diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was 18 months old, and was later diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder, anxiety, depression and agoraphobia.
She lived a “chaotic” life characterised by repeated self-harm, suicidal ideation and drug and alcohol misuse, as well as repeated inpatient admissions to mental health units, but the inquest heard she received constant, dedicated and close support from her family and mental health professionals.
She had been claiming disability living allowance (DLA) for her diabetes since she was 16 but had started a new claim for PIP in November 2018, hoping to secure further support for needs related to her mental health.
Her PIP application form appears to have been lost by DWP, the inquest heard, after she posted it in January 2019, and her DLA was stopped that month because she had failed to return it.
Disability News Service (DNS) reported last week how a secret DWP investigation into her death found that, because of its errors, Philippa’s total benefits had fallen from £229 a week to just £73 per week for four-and-a-half months, while Social Fund loan repayments of £12.43 per week were deducted from the £73, leaving her with little over £60 a week to live on.
The inquest had heard how Philippa had experienced months of distress due to DWP’s decisions to remove her disability benefits when it lost her claim form, and then to confirm that decision, as well as the length of time it took to reinstate her benefits, and deal with a new claim.
DWP errors had caused her severe financial hardship, said the coroner, and resulted in her taking out payday loans she could not pay back.
Both DWP and Capita had been told of her history of significant mental distress and mental health inpatient admissions, that she was agoraphobic, and that she would be unable to cope with attending the assessment centre.
Philippa’s sister, Imogen, said last night that the family wanted “continued and systemic change”.
She said they believed that the treatment of her sister (known to her family as Pip) by DWP “had a direct impact on her mental state and in the end is the reason for her death.
“She was in despair because of the depths to which she had sunk, she could see no way out of the debt and the poverty in which she was living.
“Pip’s poor mental health meant she was not able to handle the battle with the DWP for the reinstatement of her benefits.
“The stress of the conflict with the DWP made her even more ill.
“Support from her community psychiatric nurse and from her family kept her going. But the constant cold and unsympathetic wall of resistance that she met at Capita and the DWP was more than she could endure.
“The refusal of a home assessment by Capita was just too much for Pip to cope with. We believe she just couldn’t take any more.”
She said she was “really happy” with the coroner’s conclusions, and she praised his “very full and thorough investigation”.
Merry Varney, a partner with solicitors Leigh Day, who represented the family at the inquest, said the coroner’s decision to issue PFD reports was “hugely significant”, as DWP and Capita would be required to respond to them, while their responses would be published.
She told DNS that the example set by the coroner and his “willingness” to investigate the role of DWP “should be very powerful messages for other coroners”.
She added: “I hope that Pip’s family and everything they have done helps other families who may have been in that position feel that they can come forward and that there may be a way to help them and for them to achieve justice”.
In a statement, Capita apologised to Philippa’s family “for the mistakes made in processing her claim and the additional stress which was caused to Philippa”.
A spokesperson said: “We have strengthened our processes over the last 18 months and are committed to continuously working to deliver a high-quality, empathetic service for every claimant.
“In partnership with the DWP, we will act upon the coroner’s findings and make further improvements to our processes.”
DWP offered its “sincere condolences” to the family, and said it would “carefully consider the coroner’s findings”.
DNS asked if it would apologise to the family for its failings, but DWP had not responded by noon today.
*Disability News Service attended nearly every session of the online inquest
These are people with enough medical evidence from multiple sources that should prove easily they are disabled by their conditions. Lou's diabetes is not only self inflicted, but does not in the slightest bit stop him from working. He would happily waddle down to walmart in the past, even if he did complain about it. These people who died are people who would likely have given anything to have the mental stability to be able to do even a fraction of the things Lou does in his life.
But what do they know, they're English so Lou wouldn't care about their livelihoods.
Medicaid is a bigger mess than people realize. For a single person if you get over $1000 a month you do not qualify for the free version and get a modified version that while cheaper than most people have it, still ends up being kind of expensive if you realize that its intended for someone who could earn as little as $1100. I will note here this is also why Lou uses PayPal. Both SSI and medicaid can monitor your actual bank account, and in the event you received money they will note that. SSI doesn't care about gifts, but medicaid does count them against you for your qualification and you must submit at least 3 months of bank statements to them when you apply. There is also a yearly re-submission where you have to give them the 3 months of bank statements and answer questions about what money you have, where it is, and if you have any property.
Neither program looks at PayPal though. Lou keeps more money than most people think in his PayPal because if his bank showed the record of him putting money into it, the medicaid he receives would easily be disqualified because the donations would be counted against him. He may be keeping money in it, but he isn't transferring more than 1k into it a month and can't leave a lot in there either because the total of your bank account is important to medicaid as well. I'd go so far as to wonder if that isn't part of why he withdraws to pay for the bus.
, has been stripped.
, and keep exposing Lou. He isn't a Kero, but he does siphon money from people that could actually use it for more than ipads.
