Disabled woman died from ‘massive heart attack’ after she was repeatedly refused benefits
“The Tories don’t actually kill the sick and disabled directly. Instead, they deprive their victims of the money they need to live – so they either starve to death, die of their condition, or take their own lives.”
I wrote those words yesterday – and today, we see the truth in them.
The DWP’s cruelty to Sandra Burns – subjecting her to repeated assessments, rigging the result so she failed them, and then forcing her to undergo the added stress of challenging the decisions – pushed her beyond her body’s ability to cope.
And she died.
Responsibility for that death lies with the Conservative government.
The Tories deny it, of course. They say the reasons for the death of any benefit claimant are complex.
But this woman – and so many others before her – would be alive today if not for the campaign of harassment they waged against her.
That is the only element in her life that can be said to have contributed to the worsening of her condition.
But it is an indirect way of killing. It cannot be said that anybody in the government deliberately decided to kill Ms Burns – so nobody can be accused of committing a crime.
The logical accusation – corporate manslaughter – has never been levelled against the Tories in a serious way.
Why not? Probably because none of the victims – or their families – had the money to take it to court.
That’s the corruption at the heart of the UK today.
A disabled woman died from a “massive heart attack” after she was repeatedly refused vital financial support following assessments carried out by a private benefits firm, it has been reported.
Sandra Burns, from Luton, was found dead at the bottom of the stairs at her home on April 16, surrounded by letters from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and over-due utility bills, having suffered what is believed to be a huge heart attack.
Brother Ian told Luton Today: “She was found dead at the foot of her stairs, apparently of a massive heart attack.
“She was surrounded by letters informing her that the gas, electricity, water, telephone and television were all in danger of being cut off.”
“This debt and anxiety lay all around her on the floor”, he said.
The 57-year-old, who had worked in retail for 30 years before severe back pain caused by five fused vertebrae in her spine forced her to give up working, had failed a number of benefit assessments over a five year period but successfully challenged each decision on appeal.
The disability assessments were carried out by private firm Atos, on behalf of the DWP, who withdrew from a contract to carry out assessments for Employment and Support Allowance following a string of failures and mounting criticism.
Each time she failed an assessment, Ms Burns found herself looking at a mountain of debts while she battled to have the harsh decisions over-turned.
Her Brother said the difficulties of living with a chronic health condition, coupled with having to repeatedly fight for the benefits she desperately needed, caused her health to deteriorate.
Source: Disabled woman died from ‘massive heart attack’ after she was repeatedly refused benefits
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Corporate Manslaughter only amounts to a fine, it should lead to prison sentences and a fine, that should also be levied at all responsible, the fine should be noticeable and also there needs to be a separate complaints panel for the assessors that is not run by the assessor companies and includes mandatory reporting to the regulating bodies where there is serious fitness to practice concerns, then the unfit assessors should face a panel of there own and be sanctioned accordingly, a recent example would be a case of a person with dementia who scored zero points, this was overturned at mandatory stage, what has happened to the assessor nothing, what will happen to the assessor nothing, what should happen to the assessor, a panel hearing and striking of or at least suspension, unless they have a similar regulation standard like the NHS then these bad assessors will still practice and heaven forbid if there little gravy train ended and they got re-employed back into the NHS, ask yourself one question? Would you trust a wca assessor to care for you or a relative/friend in a NHS Enviroment?
and from luton, oh there at least three extremely unfit assessors there, I been assessed by two of them and have seen some other’s as well
and still it rolls along without much of a ado. aktion t4 culling the stock through benefits denial
What a sad miserable lonely death what a why to leave this life hounded to death the dwp the tories don’t care so what there saving money.. What a sad wretched country this is now divided and hatefull osbournes divide and conquer really worked god help you if you’re struggling here be it disabled unemployment poor, but we know all this… If you are young healthy get a real world skill something where you can get work anywhere.. Run get out of here go see the world unless we have a complete change in this country this toxic society there’s nothing for you under the tories
One more name to add to the list of those the Tories have deliberate killed.