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Joanne Lee Stephens was utterly disgusted and posted on social media disability forum the plight of her brother Edward Lee failing his assessment.
This is my brother Edward Lee who was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw and Lymph Nodes.
On the 04/01/2017 my brother was admitted to hospital for an operation to save his life.
On the 5/01/2017 my brother had his operation and very ill when he left theatre.On the 6/1/2017 ATOS did an telephone assessment to decide his fitness for work.
On the 23/02/2017 DWP wrote back stating that he had scored ZERO points even though he is on very high doses of Morphine as well as other Morphine tablets to kill the pain.
My brother is confined to bed unable to eat still and the cancer has made its way through his neck into the chest
His benefits were immediately stopped and any benefits that were owed were refused.
My brother also has a long list of health problems but ATOS told the DWP his cancer is not life threatening.
The appalling way this government treats very sick people is nothing short of criminal. Many are rightfully denied support for the state when needed. The state peddles lies about languishing on the state while ‘hard working taxpayers foot the bill is just wrong and not true. Now if you don’t need a DS 1500 to state you have less than 6 months to live you ain’t dying quick enough to garner state support.
Chronically sick people are being denied access to support even when they have medical evidence in front of them which is disregarded as they think behavioural changes need to happen with claimants to weed out the ones sponging off the state purse. There are many stories highlighted now where denial of support is common place among the corridors of power at DWP. In fact not once is chronic illness mentioned which affect so many and which are often hidden disabilities. this week many changes were also announced to change PIP (Personal Independence Payments ) another benefit designed to support disabled and chronically sick people with the extra costs they face
How much longer can the general public turn a blind eye to the suffering of thousands of people without saying that’s enough this stops now? We also have later in year the prospect of further changes to the work capability process which was announced in the Green Paper ‘Improving Lives’ by the New Tory Minister for DWP Damien Green. Labour minister Debbie Abrahams a former public health consultant called these new changes as dangerous. https://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/debbie-abrahams/dangerous-new-changes-planned-to-force-sick-people-into-work-or-into-poverty
Even Lib Dems Lords have motioned a Bill to stop these changes http://www.libdemvoice.org/lib-dem-lords-aim-to-kill-new-tory-restrictions-on-disability-benefits-53391.html
This is state sanctioned torture for those unfortunate to rely on the state for support during difficult times in their lives.
Meanwhile the WCA process continues to terrify those on Employment and Support allowance which has in some case resulted in fatalities, while making those with MH live in fear . It is time for public to stop believing the press and ministers and start to question their consciousness of whether they are going to defend the human rights of the very people they oppress and stand up and say enough is enough to those in the corridors of power whose aim is to demolish the welfare state so no one will be entitled to state support in the future with an ideological agenda to cut the welfare bill costs by any means necessary and ignore the suffering it is causing to those claiming and their families. There is plenty of research out there now both in HOC library ,DWP select committee evidence and Independent Research to highlight this flawed assessment process which should be scrapped immediately.
This has to stop now.
UPDATE: a second story in the matter of days http://www.welfareweekly.com/terminally-ill-women-found-fit-for-work-by-callous-dwp-needs-your-help/
blueannoyed 
Comments on: "WHEN THE DWP DECIDE YOU ARE JUST NOT SICK ENOUGH-EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE!" (37)
[…] Joanne Lee Stephens was utterly disgusted and posted on social media disability forum the plight of her brother Edward Lee failing his assessment. This is my brother Edward Lee who was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw and Lymph Nodes. On the 04/01/2017 my brother was admitted to hospital for blueannoyed […]
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My partner was assessed and his benefits stopped.He was seen to be carrying a bag so he was fit for work. The bag ( plastic carrier) contained his appointment letter nothing else.
We got all the medical evidence including X-ray copies etc and sent written request for an appeal. He won but the stress caused a fatal heart attack.
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Oh my god so sorry to hear about your partner Mandy, I lost my uncle too though this evil lot, he hung himself, he left a note blaming his death on this government, I am disabled too so knew what’s it’s like to keep being hounded and harassed, but it shame’s me that the people of this country no longer care about the vunable and just let this uncaring government keep on murdering us 😠
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[…] Source: WHEN THE DWP DECIDE YOU ARE JUST NOT SICK ENOUGH-EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE! […]
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Reblogged this on Same Difference.
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Reblogged this on disabledsingleparent.
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I reached in my bag when asked to produce my medication for chronic pain due to osteoarthritis and osteomalacia. I was deemed fit for work! They take no medical evidence into consideration. All the observations are put into computer program which then decides whether you are fit to do SOME form of work,no matter what you did before stopping work no matter where your skills are best placed. A computer program and a so called health professional who may have no knowledge of the effects of an individuals illness or disability and how it can effect them in different ways every day. Inhumane and discrimination towards individuals who are already suffering enough and I have to say that this government is fully responsible for creating the crisis in the NHS and an increase in cases of mental health across the UK with their disgusting lie of austerity. I feel sadness everyday for cases like this. People are dying it’s criminal!
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I worked my butts off under pressure in a dialysis unit got no support from management , made to work without help on my legs for hours before getting a chance to sit , sometimes going without meals.I had to carry heavy skips out of the units and put them in even huge skips in the yard as a RGN .My arms and fingers developed musculoskeletal problems , my legs were swollen they then bullied me for being slow. When I go off sick as well with chemical reactions to my skin they ignored GP advice and recommendations , they ignored occupational advice .I developed osteoarthritis and was forced to go part time, with no support I went to agency work .They then issued me with P45 because of my condition had my assessment after been on ESA .I took my coat off in assessment all info was twisted benefit stopped 0 score.Asked to go seek JSA must attend 5 days weekly for 4 wks ..I got a knee injection although asked to rest for a few days had to attend jobcentre next day. I feel victimised, bullied . I am in pain depressed on top of that I have various health issues none considered . I am disgust that the same system that led to my condition has now turned their backs on my health and want me to go back and damage my body some more .
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Bastards! MAKE some of the people (who make these decisions), LIVE for at least a year, on what we get weekly/monthly, along with the imminent threat of having your Benefits removed at the whim of some nobody, behind a desk. As a household, I get £120 BELOW the government’s official poverty line. If our disabled son didn’t live with us, we would literally be living on the streets! The assessors who work for these companies should be sacked, have any linked qualifications removed & made to live on less than the pittance the Gov’t ‘allow’ most people with disabilities to live on!
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history repeating itself by the summer of 41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww800PzlJ6Y https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1mdr6r/as_absolutely_atrocious_as_the_holocaust_was_did/
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[…] Source: WHEN THE DWP DECIDE YOU ARE JUST NOT SICK ENOUGH-EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE! […]
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Wow, this post is pleasant, my sister is analyzing these things, so I
am going to convey her.
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I have severe rhumatiod arthritis bursitis on my hips and had a knee replacement.. I was on dla middle rate for life as this is a degenerative disease I’ve had the most severe flare up since December barley able to walk our do normal daily tasks. yes I do have good days but it does not mean I’m not in pain .. I got assessed by a atos for pip I scored 6 points (you need 8 to get am award) but if the assessor has noted things correctly I’m sure I’d have made the mark.. so now I’ve appealed and wait to see what happens
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Reblogged this on Declaration Of Opinion .
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My illness is one of the invisible ones. Almost 20 years of highly toxic medication has left me with short term memory issue. I can’t learn new skills or perform old ones. All work based situations are now beyond me. I terrified of loosing my benefits and you have stated the case perfectly. My blessings to you and all your family. Bee
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Reblogged this on sideshowtog.
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[…] Source: WHEN THE DWP DECIDE YOU ARE JUST NOT SICK ENOUGH-EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE! […]
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Reblogged this on The Greater Fool.
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Reblogged this on The love of God and commented:
England has become the hater of everybody who are not in the machine. Never ever be a pre-born child; a disabled person; an old person; a young person, still alive; in hospital, either needing, or recovering from treatment/surgery, and so many other types. If you’re not in the work machine, whatever you are paid, and whether it’s enough to live on, or not, you will likely be dubbed unworthy of support.
Three words I’ve come to despise: ‘Help’; ‘love’; ‘support’. These three things, if actually given, would be beneficial to society as a whole. What each one of them has become is an absolute deprivation of morals. An empty promise, at best.
Change, England. CHANGE.
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Reblogged this on Christopher John Ball.
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Hi first I would like to send my thoughts and prayers to your brother. I too am going through the so called reconsideration process after being denied getting a score of 0 after having two TIA’s mini strokes I am at high risk for a full stroke and have a condition that triggers them called Hemiplegic Migrains which is very painful and is a continued pain I have had for four years now. When I have a TIA my left side does everything a full stoke does only no vein in my brain has ruptured which have thinned on my right side of my brain making my left side continue to have less oxygen causing neurological issues. Yet according to the strangers who are doing health assessment I
Health and fit for work. I think they are trying to lesson the ill population by indirect murder. Cause once your brother and I and anyone else with a life threatening illness are dead they save money. Cause it’s not about health and care it’s about saving money. The human life has no worth in today’s world.🙏🏼
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Disgusting I’m in a similar though not as serious position. COPD at stage 4, double osteo, I can’t even bathe myself but I’m to be reassessed in 18 months as my condition may improve. Where do these people live because its not in my world. Their job is to save the DWP money, mine is to find a way that I can get to my meds and take the fucking lot and stop this intolerable pain and indignity the feeling of utter uselessness, that’s the mental part off illness that they can’t see.
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the form MUST be filled in with as much description as possible also in the extra information bit ENSURE that you state that if you were to be found fit for work this would put your health or the health of others at risk : ertain claimants to be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity. Although the people doing the assessments are medical professionals they can only assess based on the information that you provide them. if you do not accurately describe how your illness and or disability affects you then they have no choice.
I am in the SG for ESA and enhanced/enhanced for pip. I spent a very long time keeping a diary and assessing myself and analysing everything that is related to my disability….I was quite horrified at just how disabled I am….cos ya know… you just get used to it!
35.—(1) A claimant is to be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity if—
(a)the claimant is terminally ill;
(b)the claimant is—
(i)receiving treatment by way of intravenous, intraperitoneal or intrathecal chemotherapy; or
(ii)recovering from that treatment and the Secretary of State is satisfied that the claimant should be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity; or
(c)in the case of a woman, she is pregnant and there is a serious risk of damage to her health or to the health of her unborn child if she does not refrain from work-related activity.
(2) A claimant who does not have limited capability for work-related activity as determined in accordance with regulation 34(1) is to be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity if—
(a)the claimant suffers from some specific disease or bodily or mental disablement; and
(b)by reasons of such disease or disablement, there would be a substantial risk to the mental or physical health of any person if the claimant were found not to have limited capability for work-related activity.
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I’ve had exactly the same…. paid my dues & down £300-£400 per week wages & get £88.45 ssp….. per week while having treatment for lung cancer….. no help with rent or anything….. it’s a disgrace
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The Maximus and atos think they can play GOD they sir there and type on a computer nothing but LIES and the dwp take there word for it . Whats your own family Doctor got to gain by giving a patient a sick note nothing i told my GP hes looking a mug cos these assessors who aint qualified are saying we are fit for work . Even tjou my GP is saying different .the DWP sent me a letter sayi g they accept i have health issiues but are sticking eith the assessor who told bare fce lies whens the goverment going to change
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They did that to my mum I know her illness is not as bad as cancer but she can not move sometime or even lift herself out of the bath and they stop her money saying she fit for work even though the doctor said she is unable to work we are just a number on a screen to them not people
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The DWP are out of touch with the real people in this country! I worked all my life..paid into Nat Ins, NHS,Tax. Had my children & went back to work..training to become a teacher I was struck by an out of the blue brain haemorrhage in my last year of university! I know there are worse off than me but why are we subjected to such horrible tests like we are guilty of a crime?
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I just watched a movie called I, Daniel Blake this movie is exactly what you are all talking about, everything in it is exactly how u all are describing it, the film won an award at the Cannes Film Festival…. I also read about these companies employed to do these assessments they have made over 50 million from DWP and for each individual so called health care advisor who takes someone off benefits they get a personal bonus…. my brother is paraplegic after a hit n run 40 years ago he has a swelling on his brain which causes a speech impediment and because of his lack of mobility all these years he now has diabetes… theybtried to dem him fit for work he has never been able to walk unaided since his accident…. something needs to be done and only thing that will make them sit up and notice is for the whole country to get behind this and revolt against the government!
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I have recently had issue with dwp. They kicked me off the sick and forced me to work and now I have to have more operations as I’ve caused myself more damage by working when I should have been resting my hand and arm. Dwp said because I can answer a telephone I can work…. I could have gone back too my career being a mechanic. But now the surgeon has said I won’t because of the new damage… So I still cant work and apparently I cant claim for the same injury…… So not only have you stopped me getting better they have also made me homeless….. Fed up with it all…… Wouldn’t mind but they still send me letters telling me that I have to go to appointments and my claim was stopped in November…. Bad system needs changing.
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MY HUSBAND HAD WORKED ALL HIS LIFE AND FOUGHT CANCER AND WON IT. CHEST INFECTIONS JUST KEPT ON COMING HAD TO GIVE UP WORK AND DOCTOR CAME OUT TO ACCESS HIM SAID FIT FOR WORK APPEALED AGAINST IT WON APPEAL IN THE DECEMBER I WAS HAPPY FOR HIM BUT HE WASNT AND SAID I WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ALL THIS AGAIN IN MARCH LOST HIS LIFE IN THE MARCH INSTEAD.THIS REALLY IS DISGUSTING AND NEEDS TO BE ABOLISHED.
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yes I agree with what every body is saying about the dwp and atos they tell bare faced lies it happened to my husband we had to appeal but we one.he has worked all his life and now we need help they don’t want to pay or give a dam just want to save money.
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I hate hearing that so many people are been badly treated during illness. I represented a friend last year during an appeal after the DWP stopped his ESA whilst he has a critical care unit at hospital. I have to say that the appeal cost a fortune in time postage and phone calls. The citizens advice bureau were very good but it was actually an employee of the DWP who let it slip that as soon as an appeal against the decision was made they were forced to at least pay the minimum rate! This is not , in my opinion, good enough. However at the time it gave my friend some help at least. We won the appeal after 167 pages of appeal letter including three letters from GPS and two from hospital Specialists. Thankfully my friend is now recovering well and we are positive for his future. But I would not wish this extremely stressful, degrading and emotional ordeal on anyone! It was heart breaking to see him beg for something he had worked for for years whilst in extreme pain. If anything the DWP made his recovery a million times more difficult and certainly left him with a new problem – depression. Sad times.
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All I. Seeing is more and more cases like this..and it’s sickening to think that no matter how I’ll you are this government doesn’t want to know about the sick and ill people any longer..it actually makes me feel physically sick when I read of cases like this ..right to me stomach..all its about is taking off the poor and ill….gets to me soon muck cos it’s still one of the richest countries…shame on this government and this pensions system..grrrrr
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On the 6/1/2017 ATOS did an telephone assessment to decide his fitness for work.
Atos have not done WCA’s on behalf of the DWP since Maximus took over exactly 2 years ago. So is this story bullshit? I think so.
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Hi Reality Check, you are correct Maximus did take over from Atos, however recently Maximus have shall we say ‘have been helping out’ with backlogs and is not the first case campaigners have seen whom have been seen by Atos assessor on behalf of Maximus.
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i have just beaten the dwp before going to court, they refused 3 med certs off my gp an a personal letter from my gp , sent me letter explaining why they refused sick notes then told me the only reason i not getting money is because i had not send in any sick notes, so i sent pic of letter an they paid 1600 quid in bank monday as they not paid me since nov, i been on radio politics show too go av a listen —https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7XI30Po-7M
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APPALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY APPALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so sorry this is happening to your brother as well as everyone else going through this shit!!!!! I’m in the U.S. and I know things are so different. I guess, if you get one thing, you don’t get the other, wherever you are…………………..Meaning health insurance, disability, etc…………………………….I do get disability which isn’t even enough to live on………..not enough to pay my mortgage………..I am thankful for what I get because it’s better than nothing……A big chunk of the tiny amount I get goes to pay for my health insurance………………………APPALLING………………………..I do wish your brother the best and I hope he can get the help he needs before it’s too late. 😦 XXX
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