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Originally Posted by RichardCoulter
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It's not about justifying anything, it's about FACTS. Time and time again examples are given where even the article doesn't support the claims of the headline. Eg Case of somebody dying as a result of a brain tumour which hadn't been diagnosed by anybody. Did I say anything that was incorrect and not backed up by quotes from your previous linked article?
In this case, how is dying of pneumonia directly linked to a refusal of benefits more than a year earlier?
From your link
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Smith, who lived alone, said in February that he did not know where to turn as his health deteriorated. “I could only make it to the kitchen to make food once a day. I had no muscles in the back of my leg, which meant I couldn’t stand up at all, and had to lean or sit down all the time, but they were telling me I was fit for work.”
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So that would be February 2018. Some time after the failed assessment in 2017. The
Liverpool Echo article is from 3rd Feb 2019. Anyone suffering from pneumonia is going to look bad at a Tribunal.
Having a medical condition isn't cut and dried as to how it's affects somebody.
NHS Link
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The outlook for COPD varies from person to person. The condition can't be cured or reversed, but for many people treatment can help keep it under control so it doesn't severely limit their daily activities.
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Doctors cannot really claim a patient can only walk x metres, unless the medical condition is clear cut in that. Otherwise they are just having to take the patients word on things. All that they can do is say that having the medical condition supports the possibility of any patient claim. Anybody can claim to a GP that they can't mobilize 20m. The question then becomes, do they have a medical condition that supports that? Even an ability to walk 50m or more can make you eligible for ESA and/or PIP. There are other aspects to the question for the activity. Eg The time it takes, is an often unconsidered aspect. If it takes more than twice the time than the slowest an able-bodied person can do it, then you are meant to be considered to be unable to carry out that activity. Again there has to be a medical reason for the possibility of moving that slowly and not simply out of choice.