Tag: Terminal condition

21 his job prospects

Posted on
Her husband
a former painter and decorator
is bed-ridden
registered blind
with severe dementia.
She and a team of carers look after him
24 hours a day.
Doctors told him
his condition is terminal.
He was sent a letter offering an interview
to talk about his job prospects.

[Scottish Sun (via the Internet Archive), 20/01/2012, Wife blasts ‘get a job’ letter]

23 ‘a pleasant lady to assess’

Posted on
She weighed around 5 stone
6 pounds
(34 point 4 kilos)
and was being fed by a drip.
A history of illness:
Crohn’s disease,
osteoporosis,
suffered a stroke
in 2005.
A physical assessment
described her as having
a ‘slim build’;
‘a pleasant lady to assess.’
After,
she was told her support would be stopped
and that the Department
would try to recoup
a prior overpayment.
Then she received a new diagnosis:
lung cancer;
terminal.
She submitted a form
from her doctor
to the Department.
A letter came back
a month later
to say
that the information on the form
required her to start a fresh claim.
She died the same day.

[BBC News, 08/11/2021, Hundreds of people die fighting for terminal illness benefits]

38 a beautiful sense of humour

Posted on
A government scientist,
he gave up this role
when he was diagnosed
with severe cardiomyopathy,
failure of the heart muscle.
By the end
he could not walk,
struggled to read.
He often fell over,
on one occasion
smashing his teeth.
Doctors gave him
a year and a half to live.
They were urging him
to have a heart transplant
to prolong his life.
He loved cricket
cooking, had
a beautiful sense of humour;
a classically trained musician,
he loved Beethoven.
He wouldn’t have the transplant.
He had no commitments,
thought it would be better
if there was a heart
for it to go
to somebody else.
He developed a brain tumour.
A government contractor
gave him a fitness-to-work test.
Three months later
his support was stopped.
He initially challenged the decision
but the appeal was withdrawn;
he felt too ill
to fight.
He couldn’t play the piano
he was so ill.
His mother passed away.
Seven months later
he fell at home
and never regained consciousness.

[Daily Mirror, 10/04/2014, Atos judges dying scientist fit to work – despite serious heart condition and brain tumour]

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]