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Diabetic has leg amputated after benefits stopped

Hmmm. Without doubt, having no money to live as the result of government incompetence is awful. I do question whether that is directly linked to the loss of his leg though? This statement is what makes me wonder.

"David said that by July, complications from diabetes had already caused irreversible damage. His health deteriorated because he had no money to live on: he couldn’t control his insulin intake and was unable to follow his strict diabetic diet."
 
tim2000s said:
Hmmm. Without doubt, having no money to live as the result of government incompetence is awful. I do question whether that is directly linked to the loss of his leg though? This statement is what makes me wonder.

"David said that by July, complications from diabetes had already caused irreversible damage. His health deteriorated because he had no money to live on: he couldn’t control his insulin intake and was unable to follow his strict diabetic diet."
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I think it could .. when my cooker broke and I asked the DSS for a lone to fix it .. I was told no .. I can eat sandwiches ... not a diabetic then .. but it would have been no different if I had been .. & yes for about a year I did have to eat sandwiches ..
 
Enclave said:
I think it could .. when my cooker broke and I asked the DSS for a lone to fix it .. I was told no .. I can eat sandwiches ... not a diabetic then .. but it would have been no different if I had been .. & yes for about a year I did have to eat sandwiches ..
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But therein lies the point. If you are on a strict diabetic diet that requires low carb, you can do that without cooking. It might get boring, but it can be done and at low cost as long as you buy basic food stuffs.
 
I don't think there is enough information in the story to actually link the sanctions with being unable to control insulin, and amputation.

Although not having enough money to eat would certainly have an effect, I don't see that it would automatically lead to the loss of a limb.

Sorry if that sounds harsh. I sympathise with his plight, I think having to sell things in order to eat is terrible, and it clearly sounds as if he was in a desperate situation and depressed. But linking the sanctions to amputation is a step too far and is just another journalistic liberty.

They could have written the story better, gained more sympathy, and actually used credible information.
 
It is so sad but is a very common thing to happen
I have bipolar and am on esa. I have been sanction al a couple of times when I was put into the work related element of esa. That was due to me suffering badly with my bipolar. In total, I went without any money for 6 months. I relied on the food bank, but bless them, they had no idea that some of the food they gave me, was not good for diabetics ie pasta, tinned food with sugary sauces, sugar laden cereals. I explained I was diabetic and could not have these foods, so I went home without anything. Even with being on esa, by the time I have paid my bills, pay part towards my rent and council tax, test strips, I am left with 19 pounds a week to buy my food. Which proves hard to eat healthily.
 
tim2000s said:
But therein lies the point. If you are on a strict diabetic diet that requires low carb, you can do that without cooking. It might get boring, but it can be done and at low cost as long as you buy basic food stuffs.
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High carb foods are cheaper than basic low carb ones, everywhere. Believe me, I've looked.
Bread = 50p = 8 to 10 sandwiches maximum
£1 frozen veg = 8 portions (e.g cauliflower for cauliflower rice, cauliflower cheese.

Breadcrumb or flour = cheaper than cheese, bacon or any protein.
Cheese = £1 per 180g

Check the £1 shop out and see what you get most of for your £1. Sugary carbs. More crisps, more sweets, more biscuits and crackers, even cereals.

Pork scratching more expensive than crisps and carby snacks.

Low carbing can leave some people lacking some minerals so need more certain foods or supplements.
 
ickihun said:
I bet statistically poverty is linked to poor diet thou @Brunneria . I see it a lot.
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I am sure it is.
But labelling it 'poverty' is too simplistic. Education (esp diabetic education) is also key.
And in this man's situation, even that badly written article makes me think mental health was a huge contributor. They are all in the mix.

Nothing is ever as simple as the media would like.
 
Long time ago, I found myself homeless, I managed to find a ****** bedsit, the rent took most of my wages, I lived on jacket potatoes and free sandwiches. I couldn't afford to pay electricity bill, so didn't have electrics, the kitchen was a tap coming out of wall, no sink or units, it was a shared bathroom, with no lock, the bulb had blown so dark at night, I had a bucket and plastic wash basin I would stand in bucket and pour cold water from tap over me to wash. I had to use a launderette which was an expensive, but need to look presentable at work. The guy downstairs let me use his iron and toasty machine, so we shared the free sandwiches (from a friend's work, they would have been binned). The young couple next door with a baby, because he worked no benefits either and they were much in the same boat, she shoplifted (I don't condone this but she did it to have enough food) so some people on low income or benefits have a tough time, there is no fall back money, it is day to day living.
I can tell you it can be hard, thankfully I got a promotion at work and moved into a shared house but not everyone can have that.
They should make all MPs, have to be homeless and only have basic benefit money to live on, give them a room and tell them they still need to go into work everyday, they should be made to live like this for a couple of months.
 
Not having a go at anybody, but a lot of people who say eating healthy can be cheap must be feeding more than 1 person or have access to lots of different shops. If you live on your own, eating healthy on a budget is impossible. Or more to the point, low carb. I'm not on a budget, i'm pretty well off compared to most people, but i often resort to high carb stuff like bread because there's nothing else to buy. I have no decent shops nearby, so i do an online shop once a week. Anything fresh is in the bin halfway through the week. Yes i could maybe organise it better, but it's still easier to buy the convenient stuff. I spend about £50 a week just on food and drink for myself, how anybody on a tight budget is supposed to avoid carbs i've no idea. All the recipes etc that everybody always pulls out of their **** are always aimed at 4 or 5 people. It's just not practical to buy a whole load of ingredients for 1 person. 1 meal would end up costing £10. Also saying how cheap you can get various things from the market, aldi or wherever else is no help if you don't go to those places. I've never even seen an Aldi, let alone have one anywhere nearby.
 
What I would like to know is, if "David" was on the poverty line with no money coming in to pay the rent and buy food. Why did he not hit all the charities such as the Salvos and Vinnies for a hand up?

There are free food banks appearing now where you can get stuff from to last a week or so.

As I do not live in the UK, are these so called "sanctions" the same as loss of government benefits such as the dole or sickness entitlements ?
 
Brunneria said:
I am sure it is.
But labelling it 'poverty' is too simplistic. Education (esp diabetic education) is also key.
And in this man's situation, even that badly written article makes me think mental health was a huge contributor. They are all in the mix.

Nothing is ever as simple as the media would like.
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I agree. Depression can be the excelerant but poverty is the match which sparks the damage.
 
Tipetoo said:
What I would like to know is, if "David" was on the poverty line with no money coming in to pay the rent and buy food. Why did he not hit all the charities such as the Salvos and Vinnies for a hand up?

There are free food banks appearing now where you can get stuff from to last a week or so.

As I do not live in the UK, are these so called "sanctions" the same as loss of government benefits such as the dole or sickness entitlements ?
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I have very little experience about uk food banks but the media and religious leaders have stated more and more poverty in the uk. Some through debt and some through mental illness but sanctions were mentioned too. When individuals on sanctions or awaiting dwp to action payments the food banks are expected to break the fall.
If a person is having problems they haven't the spirit to resolve their own problems. They are not thinking straight. With any element of their life not just diabetic management. :(
 
'Burn out' can cause a problem to escalate. I wonder how many burn out patients lose a leg? I'm not sure but the figure will be floating around the internet somewhere.
If depressed I don't suppose the person will want to join up at a library and pay bus fare or parking first, to be turned away because computer says no!
 
Tipetoo said:
What I would like to know is, if "David" was on the poverty line with no money coming in to pay the rent and buy food. Why did he not hit all the charities such as the Salvos and Vinnies for a hand up?

There are free food banks appearing now where you can get stuff from to last a week or so.

As I do not live in the UK, are these so called "sanctions" the same as loss of government benefits such as the dole or sickness entitlements ?
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There are food banks which are helping to feed over 1m people in the UK after 6 years of austerity. But usually people have to be referred to them by an 'official' body like a Citizens Advice Bureau, you can't just turn up and get a food parcel. And usually you can only use them three times in a six month period. The person in this article was sanctioned for five months. Some churches and charities do run 'soup kitchen' type meals sevices but often they will be for a specific group of people like the homeless or elderly, and the meals provided wouldn't be suitable for diabetics.

I have helped sort food donations for a local food bank. The food is generally dry foods like pasta and rice (usually white), breakfast cereals (usually cornflakes) and tinned processed foods - mainly soup, baked beans and tinned tomatoes. Which are not great but will do for a healthy person, but not for diabetics.

Sanctions are penalties imposed by the Department of Work and Pensions for what they regard as not complying with their requirements in attending to sign on or not seeking work actively enough. Often for very minor infringements like signing on even a few seconds later than scheduled. The sanction can be partial or total loss of the benefit for a varying length of time, or permanently.

In this case it seems to have been due to a mix up of paperwork by the DWP and was eventually overturned on appeal, five months later.
 
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