Terminally-ill woman wins discrimination court case against DWP. What about those like her who have already died?
Lorraine Cox.
This is a genuine landmark judgement against the Department for Work and Pensions, and a boost for anyone with a terminal illness who cannot predict when the end will come.
It is also a blow against the tastelessness with which the Tory-run government department carries out its affairs, without the slightest pang of sensitivity about demanding that someone identifies the moment of their own death.
(For a similarly tone-deaf attitude, consider the rule that says single mothers must provide details of their rape before receiving child benefit for a third child.)
But what struck This Writer most about the story was the number of people who were shocked to read it, after I published my piece about it last week.
Lorraine Cox is only the latest in a long line of people with terminal illnesses to have suffered prejudice from the DWP, yet it seems many readers were learning about it for the first time.
The ruling that people with terminal illnesses can only receive PIP if they are likely to die within six months has been in place for years – as has the list of such illnesses on which the DWP relies.
The government has used it to discriminate against thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people before Ms Cox won her case.
What about them? What about their family and/or carers if they have passed on.
Are they due for compensation after the DWP ignored their pleas for support in their/their relatives’/friends’ twilight days?
Will they be permitted to demand recompense and restitution from the Tory-run DWP? Or will they be ignored?
I hope these are all matters the judicial review will consider.
A woman who has motor neurone disease was unjustifiably denied fast-tracked disability benefits because it was not clear how long she would survive, the High Court has ruled.
In a landmark verdict, the judge ruled Lorraine Cox, 40, suffered a breach of her human rights.
While other people with life-limiting conditions had the immediate right to enhanced payments, she was refused.
This was “manifestly without reasonable justification”, said the judge.
In court on Wednesday, Mr Justice McAlinden ruled the difference in treatment for terminally-ill claimants who cannot reasonably meet the six-month life expectancy rule was discriminatory.
He granted her leave for a judicial review.
Source: Motor neurone disease: Six-month death rule ‘discriminatory’ – BBC News
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Aktion t4 has a little wobble but will the dwp take any notice I rather doubt it has its become a killer of the sick disabled and mentally ill treatment of them to carry on regardless culling the stock through benefits denial
Motor Neurone Disease is an awful disease … it’s like being dead whilst alive. I watched a friend die from this and it is horrific. The DWP ought to be thoroughly ashamed of this, forcing this poor lady through the courts.
But won’t the DWP simply ignore this, just like all the other judgements they don’t like? They seem to lose a court case at least every other week but nothing ever changes.