- After a half-hour interview at his home
- he was assessed as capable to return to work.
- He was very distressed.
- (Rising rent arrears,
- warnings from the electricity company.)
- He was reluctant to ask relatives for help;
- they were unaware his benefits had been removed.
- Concerned about his patient’s condition,
- his doctor wrote a letter
- in support of his application:
- ‘extremely unwell
- and absolutely unfit
- for any work
- whatsoever.
- Please do not stop
- or reduce his benefits.
- He simply is not well enough to cope
- with this extra stress.
- His mental and medical condition
- is extremely serious.’
- It is not clear whether the letter
- reached the Jobcentre.
- He was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome
- and obsessive compulsive disorder
- in his late 20s.
- He had an eating disorder
- and cognitive behavioural problems.
- He was sacked from his first job
- because he was unable to follow instructions.
- The Department’s assessment concluded
- his mental state
- was normal.
- This triggered a decision
- by the jobcentre
- to stop his sickness benefits.
- His housing benefits were stopped around the same time.
- He was not told.
- He struggled to survive
- on his disability allowance.
- Forty pounds a week
- to live on.
- His sister said
- ‘He would have wanted to be seen as normal.
- He was desperate to get by
- as normal.’
- A body mass index
- of between eighteen point five
- and twenty-four point nine
- is considered healthy
- for a man.
- Between April and August his
- dropped
- from fourteen point one
- to eleven point five;
- he weighed five stone eight pounds
- (thirty-five kilos)
- when he died.
- The doctor told the inquest
- his body mass index
- was not compatible
- with life.
The Guardian, 28/02/2014, Vulnerable man starved to death after benefits were cut]