You completely missed my point Smeagy. I never said he didn't have the right to live on his own, and neither did I say the family should have provided cash, in fact I said quite the opposite in that where was their "support" for him (not cash based), you do not die from hunger in a week or a month, why were they not seeing him and helping him by visiting and knowing what state he was in? They sent 250.00 so they did help him out financially but given his phobia of food that didn't help as they already acknowledge in the article that he gave money away.


and no I am not a Cameron Fan! The family cannot put all blame onto the Government,(and I agree Atos are a hideous organisation) but the family are also at fault as well for not keeping a closer eye on their son/brother who they concede was vulnerable.

The family weren't aware of the deterioration until it was too late it was the extra stress that maybe exacerbated his existing phobias around food? Prior to the ATOS decision his BMI was only 14.1....
The communication between ATOS and healthcare professionals is what is killing people.

So you don't think his family have any responsibility towards him at all? care is all down to the state?

Well I don't know the timescales involved, or how far apart they lived so can't really say cherie.
He had been living independently successfully since 2006, that suggests to me they maybe didn't feel that he was at such an increased risk.

Well I think it is safe to say they had very little involvement for at least 4 months, as he died for months after his benefits stopped. They acknowledge that he "gave money away" so who is to say if he was still receiving full benefit he wouldn't have given it all away at any rate. They must be live fairly close as

His family are meeting Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood next Friday to try to find out why he was declared fit for work. Ms Wood said they may consider legal proceedings.

sorry to be cynical but it now looks like they are looking for compensation for his death when the "food phobia" he had probably contributed more than the lack of benefit. It seems sending him 250 quid absolves them of all famililial responsibility.

I repeat that whilst ATOS should never had insisted he was fit for work, his family had alot more insight into his problems and should have given him a bit more non financial support.

They must live close as they're visiting with his local MP?
lots of people have limited involvement for that timescale they may have had contact via telephone ...
I agree with the court action and think it's important if only to highlight the fact ATOS failed to take into consideration the opinion of his doctor.

It's a terrible thing to have happened in one of the richest countries in the world. However, the comparison to Hitler is rather a stupid one.

Are you talking about Hitler here or the the man in the article?

MP s are contactable by phone too ! Making the time to visit the MP but no time or too far too visit their relative says so much to me :tongue:

Yes, it says they have to discuss failings within ATOS face to face. :tongue:

You don't know enough about this family to be making such comments really though do you. All the info we have is his mother is a single parent and he has a sister, that's it.

You don't know what life they lead, all we do know though is his benefits were stopped when they 100% should not have been. He has been failed by the system and unfortunately ended up dead.

Poor guy.

Since the man was 44 years old then the parents might be too elderly, frail, have illnesses of their own. Without knowing the details or the families circumstances then it's pretty unfair to jump to conclusions and it also only states the family are meeting the MP it doesn't say where, the MP could be visiting them.

Money isn't even the issue, the fact that the government, the DWP and this ATOS bunch are continuously failing the sick and vulnerable in this country is the big problem here.

How can you say money isn't an issue when the headline states he died due to loss of benefits? The press are making it into an issue about money when there really is so much more to this story, his food phobia being one of the glaringly obvious ones to me.

Because benefits don't always have to mean money and nothing else Cherie, I said that because this is what you posted earlier in the thread..

Having his benefits stopped never just meant he had no cash, it also stopped his housing benefits and if he had still been receiving DLA then the social work department knowing he was vulnerable could have possibly sent home carers out to make sure he was safe, had things in to eat and if they would have seen the weight he was and reported it I'm pretty sure they could have got him signed into a hospital.

yes I agree with all that Josy, but in this day you just can't expect the agencies to get it right, if you have a vulnerable or aged adult in your family you have to get stuck in to see that what should be happening is, there are so many box tickers in jobs with no ability to see beyond what they see as their job. I see alot of it in the School I work in, if parents are lax and don't chase things up the child can miss out on alot of help that is available to them. I wouldn't trust any agency to sort anything out, sad but true these days.

This particular agency are being paid 500 million ... you would think for that they would be expected to get it right wouldn't you?

They are getting it 'right'

Their job is to kick people off benefits no matter what

Thats exactly what they do. They are doing what they get paid to. Though how their 'doctors' sleep at night I will never know. ATOS are trying to back out of their contract due to death threats made towards their staff apparently..while I disagree with death threats, I do find it understandable in this case, given how many deaths their callous decisions have CAUSED.

I agree vicky, the remit was not so much to assess but just to blanket sweep everyone on DLA and ESA... You are seen as disposable and if the process is too stressful and you fall through the net, then that's all the better you're off the books.

If it was about actually asessing illnesses, no way would the word of a randomer who has had a 3 week course in 'recognising disability' be believed over the word of a qualified consultant who has like 7 years of uni plus loads of experience under their belts..

Yes GPs can feel forced to write sick notes at times (not as often as the government would have you believe though I suspect), but there is absolutely no reason at all to ignore hospital consultants notes/advice. In my opinion anyway.

Unfortunately no the amount of money paid is immaterial, people need to understand that these agencies are staffed in the main by jobworths and every dodgy decision needs challenging.

Poeple do understand, which is why 1000s of people protest about their improper decisions regularly up and down the country.

It would be a lot easier for all organisations to look out for these vulnerable individuals and possibly deal with problems more quickly if there hadn't been this severe and heartless reform programme done in such haste and with absolutely atrocious planning by Ian Duncan Smith for this Govt.

However the welfare agencies have been weakened, in some parts of the Country now welfare rights and other welfare organisations don't do anything with benefit forms now.
People are being left right on on a limb when decisions like this as to benefits reduced and removed, then likely panic, stress and depression can set in and the downward spiral can be too far down to save the individuals as with this example in this thread.

The environment for these reductions of benefits/benefit cuts and the re assessments of those on benefits, is hitting the most vulnerable more and more.
The 'only' organisation that created that heartless environment by its cruel reforms and absurd fitness questions and tests is this coalition Govt.

They need to stop looking at stats, go into the community's to meet these people and not see them as a statistic.

Actually go out and talk to the families who's relatives had died because they couldn't attend a poxy little meeting with them and they threatened to stop their benefits.

A slap of reality is what they need.

Yes but in this guys case nobody did, his family had an expectation that the State would support him and sort him out.

and this brings me back to the point that if you have a vulnerable adult in your family you cannot trust the agencies or the state to support them anymore, you have to be involved whether you are 2 miles or 200 miles away from them, you have to make calls on their behalf, follow everything up, because even positive decisions can be left hanging for months in someones intray, or get forgotton.