A DAD-of-two was killed by the stress of facing the Government’s tough new medical test for benefit claimants, say his grieving family.
David Groves (pic: Roland Leon, SM)
A dad-of-two was killed by the stress of facing the Government’s tough new medical test for benefit claimants, say his grieving family.
David Groves, 56, died of a massive heart attack the night before his medical as he scoured the internet for ways to raise cash in case he lost his entitlement.
He had claimed incapacity benefit for three years after doctors ordered him to stop working following a heart attack and several strokes.
His widow Sandra, 57, said being lumped in with “dole scroungers” and the fear of financial hardship had a devastating effect.
David – who worked for 40 years as a miner and telecoms engineer – had already gone through a stressful eight-month appeal process to keep his £91-a-week benefits.
But when Tory Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith ordered a crackdown on “spongers” he was ordered to undergo a medical test with French private health giant Atos.
Sandra Groves with sons Darrell and Paul (pic: Roland Leon, SM)
Sandra, of Staveley, Derbyshire, said: “When the Government said they were going to get all these benefit cheats and Dave was called in for a medical, he felt like he was back to square one. It built up and he was in a terrible state by the day he died. It was the stress that killed him, I’m sure.
“He had already had to sell our caravan and he was on the computer looking online to sell our car as well.”
His son Paul, 38, added: “He could hardly walk any distance without needing help from his angina spray.
“I don’t know why they could not ask the consultants who had told him his heart was too weak to have an elbow operation he needed. They would have made it clear how ill he was.”
Daily Mirror
David Groves, 56, died of a massive heart attack the night before his medical as he scoured the internet for ways to raise cash in case he lost his entitlement.
He had claimed incapacity benefit for three years after doctors ordered him to stop working following a heart attack and several strokes.
His widow Sandra, 57, said being lumped in with “dole scroungers” and the fear of financial hardship had a devastating effect.
David – who worked for 40 years as a miner and telecoms engineer – had already gone through a stressful eight-month appeal process to keep his £91-a-week benefits.
But when Tory Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith ordered a crackdown on “spongers” he was ordered to undergo a medical test with French private health giant Atos.
Sandra Groves with sons Darrell and Paul (pic: Roland Leon, SM)
Sandra, of Staveley, Derbyshire, said: “When the Government said they were going to get all these benefit cheats and Dave was called in for a medical, he felt like he was back to square one. It built up and he was in a terrible state by the day he died. It was the stress that killed him, I’m sure.
“He had already had to sell our caravan and he was on the computer looking online to sell our car as well.”
His son Paul, 38, added: “He could hardly walk any distance without needing help from his angina spray.
“I don’t know why they could not ask the consultants who had told him his heart was too weak to have an elbow operation he needed. They would have made it clear how ill he was.”
