A Bristol woman who suffered severe pain due to slipped discs in her back and neck has taken her own life after having her benefits stopped.
A Bristol woman who suffered severe pain due to slipped discs in her back and neck has taken her own life after having her benefits stopped.
According to today’s edition of the Bristol Post, the sister of 53-year-old Jacqueline Harris, who took her own life earlier this month, claims the verdict that she was ineligible for disability benefits “drove her to take her own life”.
Despite being in agony which strong pain relief could not ease, the 53-year-old was deemed to be fit for work following a government health assessment and told to find a job.
Her sister claims she took her own life earlier this month as a result of her benefits being stopped.
As the EP reports:
“Nurse Christine Norman…said her fitness-to-work assessment at a government-run centre lasted only a few minutes.
“It is claimed that during the test she was only asked one question – ‘Did you come here by bus?’, to which she answered ‘yes’. The widow later received a letter by post telling her to find employment.
“Ms Harris contested the ruling but was found dead at her home in Speedwell Road, Kingswood, on November 2 having taken an overdose.
“A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) tribunal hearing had been due to take place to consider her appeal two weeks later.
“Her older sister Mrs Norman, 57, from Whitchurch, said her sibling was already low due to her health problems but could not bear the pressure of being forced into work.
“She said: ‘She said couldn’t do it anymore and that no-one was listening to her and no-one cared. She told me she couldn’t work and that nobody believed her.
“She just wanted her benefit so she could have avoided the pressure of work – it wasn’t a massive amount of money…” Continue reading here
3 Responses to “Bristol woman ‘killed herself after benefits were stopped’”
brossen99
http://nollyprott.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/green-holocaust-2/
If you are not bad enough to be an economic unit to be battery farmed in a care home you will have to freeze and starve to death at ( if not prior evicted from ) your home !
sarah ismail
Thanks for the coverage LFF.
Suzanne Ennazus
I saw them making excuses saying she didn’t kill herself because her benefits were stopped, and saying she would still get Job Seekers Allowance, as if treating a blind woman as a normal job seeker with threat of sanctions wouldn’t make her want to kill herself.