Jane Young · @theyoungjane
1st Sep 2014 from TwitLonger
WCA & deaths
My view on the issue of the *causality* between the WCA and the death of claimants:
I accept the following:
- Repeated WCA's undoubtedly cause excessive and unnecessary stress and cause considerable distress and hardship;
- The stress of repeated WCA's is very likely to exacerbate certain impairments and health conditions including, for example, heart conditions;
- A number of claimants have died from their existing condition, exacerbated by the stress associated with the WCA and the punitive claims process in general, at some point during or after their claim.
However, I do NOT accept that there is evidence that 1,000's of people have died as a direct consequence of the WCA. If that many coroners had cited the WCA as a material cause of death, we would know about it as we do still have journalists prepared to stick their necks out and do proper investigative work.
For further clarification, please see the report of which I was the lead author, at http://just-fair.co.uk/hub/single/dignity_and_opportunity_for_all/, in which I was careful to do justice to the experience of disabled people without making claims I could not substantiate.