Tag: 2022

05 he didn’t know how he was going to live

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No witnesses gave evidence
at the inquest,
only the coroner read out
written statements
from the man’s doctor, the first paramedic
to attend him after he collapsed,
a police sergeant who investigated
his death, the pathologist
who carried out
his post-mortem.
The day he died
he was awaiting the results of an appeal
against being found fit for work.
He visited the jobcentre,
and was asked to climb some stairs.
Heart disease, sarcoidosis,
diabetes, cirrhosis,
depression, anxiety,
agoraphobia and high blood pressure;
he had been referred to a respiratory clinic; had been diagnosed
with Asperger’s syndrome.
He had previously lost his job because of depression;
he was falling asleep at work; serious breathing difficulties.
Despite a ‘fit note’ from his doctor
he had started a new job within a few days;
he wanted to work.
But his employer realised how unwell he was, and was worried.
He lost the job.
He told the jobcentre staff
he would have a heart attack
if he climbed the stairs.
Told he could use the lift,
he asked if someone could accompany him
because of his claustrophobia.
He was told this was not possible.
It was agreed that someone would come down
to speak to him.
After leaving the Jobcentre
he went to see a friend,
who calmed him down.
He was worried about work, about
money.
They weren’t going to give him disability benefits.
He didn’t know how he was going to live.
Hours later
he collapsed in the street
and died.

[Disability News Service, 11/08/2022, Shock after inquest ignores ‘fitness for work’ and jobcentre concerns]

09 knocked down

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Knocked down
by a car, his right leg
was shattered.
17 days in hospital,
numerous operations.
He could put no weight at all on that leg
after the accident,
instead relied
on crutches.
When he applied for support
on the basis that he was unable
or virtually unable
to walk,
the Department
knocked him
back.
It said
he could walk
because he could go up to 200 yards
on crutches
before exhaustion set in.

[Huddersfield Examiner, 16/03/2020, Top judges to define what ‘walking’ means]

11 she was an artist. she dreamed

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Because of her paranoia
she had no television, rarely
used her computer, would often
throw away her mobile phone
and change her number;
she thought it was being bugged.
She had accused her mother
and female neighbours
of being witches, once
accused a woman
walking her dog
of sending messages to the police.
She was unable to shop or cook.
Shopping online was difficult – she did not like
to use the computer, was scared
to open the door.
She would turn up outside her mother’s house
7am
screaming
threatening to burn the house down.
At one stage
she tried to climb the telegraph pole
outside the house.
On several occasions she had run away –
to local woodland, where she had lived for several months;
to Siberia in the middle of winter;
to Israel –
to escape those she believed
were conspiring against her.
She was an artist. She dreamed
of buying
a rundown bungalow
in Cornwall.
She had attempted suicide several times when she was younger;
a demon
in her head
was telling her to take her own life.
For the last year of her life
she had been complaining of extreme fatigue.
She had lived with her mother and step-father for many years,
then for two years in sheltered accommodation nearby,
but was moved into a housing association flat.
The flat was very dirty. No working
appliances, full
of rubbish and filth,
huge holes in the floor,
the dual carriageway
in front of the windows.
All her benefits
had been removed by the Department,
which wrote to tell her
her support was ending
because she had failed to return a form on time.
The Housing Association
sent letters
threatening to evict her.
The Council sent a summons
for unpaid tax.
Her electricity had been
cut off.
During the summer, she visited her mother regularly,
and told her she was surviving
on a sandwich and a cup of coffee a day.
In September, she had a psychotic episode
and again cut off
contact with her mother.
In October, her mother messaged her
that her grandmother had died.
There was no reply.
She was being given injections of flupenthixol
a powerful anti-psychotic
every two weeks.
Later in October,
her non-appearance
for the scheduled injection
failed to be noticed –
the Trust had been significantly under-staffed –
until a new co-ordinator
tried unsuccessfully to contact her,
and alerted the police
a week later.
In March, the Department wrote to her mother
to tell her it would be making a back-payment
from April to the day in November
when the police discovered her body.

[Disability News Service, 08/09/2022, DWP hounded disabled woman for years before her ‘starvation’ death, papers show]