Tag: Surgery

47 two. one

Posted on
January.
She was called in for an assessment.
She and her sister
spent two hours
on two buses
travelling to the centre
for a two minute assessment.
She was only asked one question:
did you get here by bus?
53 years old,
a former nurse.
She was left partially sighted
after an industrial accident in 1987.
She required walking sticks.
She had slipped and bulging discs
in her back and neck
after an accident at work.
Her pain was exacerbated after an unsuccessful operation in 2012.
Bones from her hand were removed
during separate surgery
after she was savaged by a dog.
Every time one of her arms was touched
she was left in agony
strong pain relief could not ease.
Did you get here by bus?
She replied
‘Yes.’
She was found fit to work.
Her benefits were stopped.
She hadn’t even had the chance
to take her coat off.
Later, she received a letter
telling her to find employment.
She lost her appeal against the decision.
In November,
thirteen days before her second appeal
she was found
on her kitchen floor.

[Daily Mirror, 26/11/2013, Sick nurse killed herself after disability benefits were cut and she was ruled ‘fit to work’ ; Daily Record, 27/11/2014, Former nurse killed herself after controversial ATOS health test ruled she was fit for work ; Bristol Post (via the Internet Archive), 25/11/2013, Bristol woman ‘killed herself after benefits were stopped’]

49 there were complications

Posted on
She had her first transplant
heart and lungs
in 1985.
She returned to her council office job. But
her body began to reject her new organs;
she had another transplant in 1989.
There were complications.
31 hours of surgery.
80 pints of blood.
Afterwards
she had no stamina.
Listless, falling
asleep, fainting.
She collapsed regularly.
Blackouts. In
and out of hospital.
2013.
Her assessent was at a test centre
eight miles from her home. Twenty minutes
answering questions. Her husband, who drove her,
was not allowed in to support her.
She was judged fit for work.
She typed her appeal
on an iPad
as she lay in hospital
with a chest infection
crying.
Criteria for ability to work include
‘You can understand simple messages
from a stranger’
and
‘You can use a keyboad or mouse
and a pen or pencil
with at least one hand.’
The Department wrote to her
two months later.
Six days later
her husband was called to the hospital.
Two days after that
they put her on palliative care.
The letter said:
‘We have decided you are not entitled to support.
You have been found to be capable of work.’
Her husband sat with her all night.
The next morning
her breathing changed.
It took half an hour
for her to die
drowned in her own body fluids.

[Daily Mirror, 26/05/2013, Linda Wootton: Double heart and lung transplant dies nine days after she has benefits stopped]

54 the old system

Posted on
During the 1960s
while pregnant with her
her mother took thalidomide.
She is blind in one eye,
partially deaf,
can barely walk,
barely dress herself.
She has arthritis.
In 2004 she underwent surgery
to remove a brain tumour.
She retired from her job
as a care assistant.
She was to undergo spinal surgery
late in 2013.
‘It is because of the way I have had
to manipulate my body over the years
to try and live a normal life.
Because we have to use our bodies
in different ways
what anyone else finds normal
has killed us.’
She and her late husband
were believed to be
the first thalidomide victims in Britain
to get married.
(Her carer
helps her make tea
and brushes her hair.)
In July 2012
she received a letter
saying she must go
on a training course.
Her family appealed
and the decision was overturned.
Then
in October
she was told
once again
she should not
be claiming benefits
as she could not prove
she was unfit to work.
A further appeal was rejected.
A spokesman for the Department said
‘The old system
condemned too many people
to a life on benefits
with little hope
of moving back to work.
Now
people who can work
will be given help
to find a job
while those who need unconditional support
will get it.’
She was served with court papers
and must attend a tribunal
where she will have to prove
her disabilities to a judge.

[Daily Star, 16/03/2013, Benefits hell for Thalidomide patient; Daily Mail, 15/03/2013, Blind in one eye, partially deaf and facing major spinal surgery but Thalidomide mother is still found fit to work; The Independent, 15/03/2013, Capable of ‘work-related activity’: Partially blind Thalidomide victim with brain tumour fights Atos decision to force her to attend interviews and put together CV]