To think there will be more cases like this one? Errol Graham, starved to death.

[BillHadersNewWife]

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-51283186

Mr. Graham had his benefits stopped and despite having genuine problems was left alone to starve.

www.disabilitynewsservice.com/the-death-of-errol-graham-man-starved-to-death-after-dwp-wrongly-stopped-his-benefits/?fbclid=IwAR2eRG_-He70F0dQ9tlHzysRvoLijGdROWhM94pn58cmDPclIxTJgVwEwwg

It's absolutely sickening and worrying.

In an ideal world, any question about his condition should be sent to his GP. People with lifelong conditions should not be hassled by the benefits system. Ask their medical doctors for their opinion on their ability to work and stop these assessments. I can tell you who, if any, of my patients that are just bone idle.

Where were his family? They seemed to fight for him in court so are obviously involved but didn’t they realise what was happening at the time? If he was avoiding all contact with them as well as not engaging with services then did they not know that his mental health was so poor? It’s frightening how this can happen!

This person was receiving benefits including one that was based on his ability to work. He was listed as vulnerable based on factors which had not changed and would not normally change.

Families get stuff wrong. I made mistakes that probably led to my husband's death, and that's on me. But a system that is set up to cut off a vulnerable adult's money for food because he entirely predictably has fluctuating engagement with services, is a service that one can only assume is designed to serve itself and not us.

This is why I just cannot understand why the Tories have been voted in 4 times in the last decade. They don't give a shit about sick,disabled and vulnerable people. It strikes me that this 'stop their benefits and (hopefully) they'll starve to death' approach is their way of disposing of people that they deem 'a waste of space'.

This isn't a benefits system problem, it's a vulnerable adult support problem.

I agree. I do think they should have flagged it up that he was uncontactable though, perhaps to social services or the police.

@Hoppymclimpy, I'm so sorry you had such a bad experience, but I have to say, that's pretty much the norm these days.

I've heard some dreadful stories from clients. One of the job centres near me really treated people like shit and we encouraged our clients to put in complaints. Eventually, they got some new staff and a new manager in and gave them some training in treating people like human beings., and things improved immensely.

At one time, they wouldn't let people in if they arrived more than 10 minutes before their appointment. The poor sods had to wait outside in pouring rain while the clock ticked round.

They're not going to be happy until workhouses and debtors prisons are back.

What an horrific account.

I agree that the family who is complaining about his treatment should have been looking out for him, but ultimately the DWP are responsible for not following their own safeguarding rules.

This poor man weighed four and a half stones when he was found. He must have literally been nothing but bones and skin

The assessment board decided a friend of mine was fit to work, despite her debilitating anxiety and mental health problems, and her ESA/ incapacity benefit was cancelled immediately. They also made her feel that she should feel ashamed for claiming something that she wasn't entitled to, so she told nobody.
She didn't even realise that she could claim income support instead, and no-one bothered to tell her. She lived off a bank overdraft for several months, getting more and more anxious as time went on, and continuing to feel ashamed so not asking for help. Her mental health which wasn't very good in the first place deteriorated even further. She also lost a lot of weight. I could see the deterioration in her health but didn't know the cause.
Eventually she attacked a cashier in Tescos when her card was declined. This was very out of character and led to her being sectioned (which did at least help her to get the help she very much needed by that point). She lost her flat where she had lived for 30 years. She spent a year in hospital, then nearly 2 years in supported accommodation. She is now living on her own again, but depends much more on support from social services and the mental health team, and is still nowhere near where she was before the medical assessment board turned her down.
The money they have saved in not paying her incapacity pales into insignificance compared to how much has been spent putting her back together again, let alone the huge personal and emotional expense.

Poor man
Terrifies me. I have to fill in my dds ESA form and am terrified i will do it wrong.

You can’t take power of attorney over someone without their consent though. And it sounds highly unlikely that this poor chap would have agreed. None of us know the ins and outs of the Son’s situation, assuming he’s alive and well.

Having nursed many vulnerable adults over the years it’s easy to see how this situation can happen. It is the Government’s responsibility to not let down its most vulnerable citizens.

The bar for declaring someone does not have capacity is very high.

Not suprised. There was a little reported case of a single mother with anorexia (IIRC) think she had 3 kids.= or possibly more.

Her money was stopped after being sanctioned, despite being ill. She refused to turn the heating on in her flat or eat

She's dead now and her children are motherless.

I have had similar happen to me years ago after leaving hospital where I had an operation. I had been sanctioned (without so much as a heads up or a letter) after having a serious Asthma attack on the day of a signing in, the week prior to my op, (I phoned in to explain the next day, but this was disregarded).

My mental health suffered so badly that I felt suicidal and couldn't bring myself to fight the decision. Instead I relied on my bank overdraft of a measly £200 a month plus CB and cried every night.

After 9 months I got a PT job. But it was 9 months of almost nothing. Thankfully this was when the benefit system was not linked up. Today no way I'd survive. I might truly have done myself in.

I hate those benefit staff that treated me like I wasn't human.

The benefit system treats people like they're sub-human. And misogyny!!!. You know the full meaning of that word when you're a vulnerable woman with children and at the mercy of the system. I will always remember the woman half my age, who told me she 'didn't care if I was ill, you limp in' when I complained about being sanctioned.

From the news, it appears that he deliberately avoided meetings with the DWP and other officials, plus he discharged himself from hospital, avoided everybody that could have helped him. He starved because of his own inability to stay in contact or interact with the officials that could assist him.

But a system that is set up to cut off a vulnerable adult's money for food because he entirely predictably has fluctuating engagement with services, is a service that one can only assume is designed to serve itself and not us.

You've just encapsulated what I was drafting a rambling post to say. This. This this this. ^

As I say, it's tragic, but I do also wonder (like some others) where his family were.

The article said 'because Graham lost his ESA entitlement, his housing benefit was also stopped.'

And

'His family say he had also been found ineligible for personal independence payment (PIP.)'

So where the fuck WERE they?

My DC said hell would freeze over before they would let me (or their dad) be homeless, hungry, or destitute. They would take us in, and help us if we really hit the skids.

@LakieLady, thank you, it was a horrible experience but I agree that my experience is the norm now. Having to describe your physical and mental health issues in public Is humiliating, it makes you feel a lesser person.
There will be more cases like the one we are talking about but this is what people voted for.
The government have successfully portrayed those of us on benefits, especially ESA or PIP as undeserving scroungers sponging off society. The likes of the Daily Mail stoke the 'hate' and so these heartbreaking cases will continue. I don't have an answer but this is an issue obviously very close to my heart.

@Bunnybigears You said 'When did people stop looking after each other and just expect the government to do it for them?' My mother moved in with me and DH over 30 years ago. 12 years ago I gave up work and became her full time carer. In January last year we lost our home and all our possessions to a fire. My DH's health is wrecked due to smoke inhalation and he and I have both been diagnosed with PTSD. Social Services have failed to provide any adequate social care as backup to me for my mum and her medical care is quite frankly crap. I'm at breaking point and having to cope with the fact that my DH's life expectancy is down to less than ten years. My mum needs a major assessment of her health and medical conditions. I have absolutely zero support - or even fucking interest - from the relevant authorities. Don't blame the families unless you actually know what you're talking about.

Everyone in the UK should read Francis Ryan's incredible summation on this and understand the level of increasing disablism being allowed to dominate society (so they can get a grip and sort it out).

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/18/crippled-austerity-demonisation-disabled-people-frances-ryan-review

"They would take us in, and help us if we really hit the skids"

And if they lived in a one bedroom social housing flat and it was against the tenancy agreement to do this?

Why the fuck do some people on this thread think that poorer people are all related to better off home owners

Do you think everyone is transparent with their family about their situation? One of my patients literally sleeps under a bridge. Every few weeks he sees his parents either by scraping together money for a coach or because they come to London for the day and they meet for dinner/lunch which they treat him to. They have no idea he is homeless.

@CatherineOfAragonsPomegranate I'm so sorry you've had to endure these experiences too. I honestly don't think anyone can truly understand how humiliating the whole system is unless they experience for themselves.
I hope you are in a better situation now xx

Ated he was ILL I bet i can guess which way you vote!

@hoppymclimpy Sorry to hear you'd such a rotten experience.

Being in a similar position there for the grace...

It's an awful thing to happen to a vulnerable person, but where were his family? Surely they should have been there to support him (I don't mean monetarily either)?