Man refused benefits dies of starvation

[2old2beamum]

A 44 year od man with mental health issues, aspergers and OCD deemed capable of work has benefits reduced to £40/week dies and has a BMI of just over 11. I weep with shame.

[FlatsInDagenham]

Do you have a link?

[ilovepowerhoop]

it was on breakfast news this morning

[DrewsWife]

Why wasn't he in supported care with carers who would support him with living and eating. My hub is a carer and he sighed when he saw this. It's heartbreaking

[ilovepowerhoop]

www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/28/man-starved-to-death-after-benefits-cut

[ilovepowerhoop]

they said he was fit to work despite advice from the GP

[Goblinchild]

www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/28/man-starved-to-death-after-benefits-cut

Awful, and avoidable. Completely unnecessary death caused by negligence.

[AuntieStella]

Independent article

Cause of death not established, but likely that his extremely low weight (5st8) was at leat a contributory factor.

It seems he cut himself off from family and friends, did not open his post, and although his GP had written letters about his health it's not yet known if he gave them to the benefit assessors.

What is the threshold for SS becoming involved with vulnerable adults?

[ThinkAboutItTomorrow]

It was always going to happen. This is the consequence of government actions. They are morally culpable. If sadly probably not criminally.

[3littlefrogs]

It is utterly shameful that people in real need are desperate while the fat cats are raking in huge bonuses and evading tax.

My grown up sons are both self employed and already both of them are regularly donating to food banks and shelters for the homeless, as are many of their friends. This is without any nagging from me. It is glaringly obvious to anyone who ever ventures outside that there are people who are really struggling.

It is frightening, because most of us are only a wage packet or a mortgage payment away from near disaster.

[Goblinchild]

xpost, ilove.

He won't be the last to die because of bureaucratic neglect, he certainly isn't the first.

[tracypenisbeaker]

£40 a week? I'm sure it costs more to keep a scumbag rapist or murderer in a cell per week. Poor bloke, disgusting that he didn't get the help he needed. Can't believe people in this country are starving, if you consider how much perfectly good food is thrown away by supermarkets. There is something incredibly wrong here.

[edamsavestheday]

That's horrifying but sadly not unpredictable. The gov't doesn't care. Ian Duncan Smith probably sees it as a success - reducing the benefits bill by killing off the most vulnerable.

Funny how they are happy to lavish money on the banks but suddenly every penny counts when it's about benefits.

[Goblinchild]

He might well have been able to hold down a job, if his needs had been met, and some reasonable accommodations had been put in place.
But we'll never know if that might have been the case, because he was not given the opportunity.

[Shallishanti]

shameful, yes, and probably not the first or the last
I wonder if he didn't have a CPN? surely someone that vulnerable would have somebody to look out for them

[ParsingFancy]

Not dealing with post and difficulty socialising or making phone calls or doing personal admin are very, very common in mental illness. Even more so when there are stresses coming from the post and phone calls.

It's completely predictable that this sort of thing will happen if you make getting sickness benefits a fight to against ATOS and the DWP, as opposed to a system that seeks to support people.

[morethanpotatoprints]

edam

Ditto. Meanwhile the bankers continue to get million £ bonuses.
Britain is not a nice place to be. Gov have blood on their hands yet again.

[Goblinchild]

No, he wanted to pass for normal and so it's a lot easier to slip through the gaps. Well, I say gaps, but there's a lot more hole than bridge.
He didn't ask, you see, didn't push. So he was forgotten and died.
No advocate, no voice.

[AmberLeaf]

This is why adults who have MI, disabilities or disorders, that are lifelong and will never be better, should be automatically excluded from any reassessment of ESA entitlement.

[Shallishanti]

DP read out the guardian article this morning ( we have v jolly breakfasts) his GP had written him a letter stating very clearly that he was not fit to work at all and that any extra stress from stopping his benefits would further damage his health

[AuntieStella]

Yes, the GP letter definitely existed. But right now no-one knows if he passed it onto the assessors.

Which is why I asked about thresholds for SS (or other) interventions when someone is not capable of taking adequate care of themselves and has cut contact with their family.

[ApocalypticBlackHorseman]

I think it's terrible but I don't get that his family were unaware of him having his benefits cut as being the first sign something was wrong, with a BMI of 11 they either didn't see him or chose to ignore it.

[2old2beamum]

Thanks you lovely people am afraid I can't do links (help)
Am so glad you have picked this up
How can this happen in 2014?
I hate this government with a vengeance.
I AM SCARED!

[2old2beamum]

Apparently he was not in contact probably due to his MH state.

[soimpressed]

So sad