ATOS Origin surpass themselves once again shot by 44 Magnum

[norbert]

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IN THE Eye’s growing post-bag of appalling decisions made by French service company Atos in assessing sick and disabled people as being “fit for work”, one of the most shocking concerns Keith Tilbury.

Mr Tilbury spent 13 days in a coma fighting for his life after he was accidentally shot in the stomach by a police firearms officer. The bullet smashed a rib, damaged his sternum and put a hole in his liver. He had to have part of a kidney removed and lost part of his bowel. He had massive entry and exit wounds, muscle and other extensive soft tissue damage.

Since that disaster in 2007, Mr Tilbury has suffered two heart attacks, two while undergoing surgery, a quadruple coronary bypass, two transient ischemic attacks (mini-strokes), one full-blown stroke resulting in reduced vision in his eyes, post-operative complications and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mr Tilbury, 60, says: “I have had many hours of cognitive behaviour therapy with a psychotherapist trying to work out why a Thames Valley Police firearms instructor would fire Dirty Harry’s weapon of choice — a .44 magnum — in a seminar room.”

Given his well-documented health records, Mr Tilbury, who had been a civilian emergency call centre operator, is trying to establish how on earth the Atos nurse or doctor — he is not sure which— could decide that he is fit to work without “dropping down dead” when there has been no improvement in his health since his last assessment.

Like thousands of others, Mr Tilbury is having to go through the ordeal of appealing against the decision. He sees the box-ticking Atos test — drawn up with the help of the US insurance giant Unum, which was fined millions in the US for cheating its clients — as no more than a government tool to slash the benefits of people who through no fault of their own can no longer work.

As The Eye has extensively reported (see issues 874, 1300, 1301 and 1302), Unum has been helping both Tory and Labour governments with so-called welfare reform, goin right back to Peter Lilley’s 1994 social security “Incapacity for Work” shake-up.

Atos, which boasts that its contract with the current government is worth “approximately £lOOm a year”, happened to be the only other private company sifting alongside Unum on the then Labour government’s panel which reviewed and came up with the hated “work capability test” which is now failing Mr Tilbury and thousands like him.

Companies like Atos and Unum (which markets its insurance on the back of welfare reform) now stand to make even more millions however, as the coalition presses ahead with its plans for similar assessments for those receiving disability living allowance (DLA). By replacing DLA with a personal independence payment which is subject to regular review and face-to-face assessments, the government says it can save £lbn because it claims many people no longer require the support.

But a recent detailed study, Responsible Reform, accuses the government of consistently using inaccurate figures to exaggerate the rise in DLA claimants, while concealing the overwhelming opposition to its latest reform. The detailed 40-page study — dubbed the Spartacus report and written and funded by disabled people found that the number of working-age people receiving DLA, excluding those with mental health conditions, had remained remarkably stable.

One of the authors, Kaliya Franklin, said: “Cutting spending on DLA will increase the burden on local authorities, the NI-IS and community services at the very time they are seeking to find savings by reducing eligibility, particularly for social care support.”

There is no point in subjecting people with permanent disability to regular assessments and those whose conditions do improve would welcome reform— and indeed assessments — if they were simplified and considered robust, fair and transparent. But as Mr Tilbury and so many like him have found, the government’s work capability test, delivered by Atos, is none of those things.

PS: After the shooting incident in which Mr Tilbury was injured, Thames Valley Police was fined £40,000 with £25,000 costs and the PC who fired the weapon, David Micklethwaite, £8,000 and £8000 costs, for breaching health and safety regulations.

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[stokes11eg]

The sad thing is, the cost of carrying out these assessments will probably far outweight the pittance some people get on DLA.

[daveyeff]

cant understand how they havent been sued. a good barrister would rip them apart.

[DirtyHarry]

Mr Tilbury, 60, says: “I have had many hours of cognitive behaviour therapy with a psychotherapist trying to work out why a Thames Valley Police firearms instructor would fire Dirty Harry’s weapon of choice — a .44 magnum — in a seminar room.”

I would only fire mine in a room full of DIMs.

[norbert]

The sad thing is, the cost of carrying out these assessments will probably far outweight the pittance some people get on DLA.

ATOS are paid £100 million a year to do Work Capability " Assessments " which have little to do with the real world of work ...Grayling won't have real world assessments anyway ....the cost of appeals is reported to be £80m ...£60m in admin alone , the Tribunal system is in melt down , then theres the cost of proper Doctors , Specialists & Consultants that have to challenge the pack of lies written by ATOS Origin's Quacks & Hacks ...it'd be cheaper for the DWP to have their own doctors ...all totally ideologically driven

[norbert]

cant understand how they havent been sued. a good barrister would rip them apart.

something to do with them only being disability analysts ? think that's the legal get out something to do with only stating opinions and the opinion was wrong....basically " it's well I suppose that so & so could " and it's " only " capability ...they pass the buck up onto the DWP who are basically handheld by ATOS

In America UNUM Provident used the same methods , their DMA ( Disability Medical Assessment ) is spookily similar to the ATOS WCA assessment , the idea was to low ball Unemployment Protection Insurance claims using illegal Medical Insurance Definitions in bad faith . UNUM Provident were banned from operating in 15 states and six countries worldwide after a class action was taken out as they've a written constitution there .

The LIMA " computer says no " tick box software was supplied by UNUM to ATOS ...they've lobbied the UK Government to get policy in their own vested interests ....like with RM it's assumed you are swinging the lead & you've a " good " doctor , then there's the all in the mind bit too . ATOS Origin basically take the criticism for getting people off benefits by fair and more usually foul means for the Government - UNUM as they are now clean up on people taking up private unemployment protection insurance policies .

All the relevant facts are well presented here http://whywaitforever.com/dwpatos.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011 ... disability" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Re ATOS " Doctors " reported to the General Medical Council ...the problem is that you've to prove they've " done harm "

[General Mannerheim]

cant understand how they havent been sued. a good barrister would rip them apart.

There has been plenty of people who have tried taking these clowns to task but when your up against the system then you've no chance.
One bloke I know and a very clever chap at that took them to court won his case but as it had dragged on for so long by the time he actually won his case he was re referred for another assement and guess what... he failed again,two years of fighting with a brain tumour and now he's back to square one,think they was hoping he would have died by the time it went to court.

[daveyeff]

cant understand how they havent been sued. a good barrister would rip them apart.

something to do with them only being disability analysts ? think that's the legal get out http://whywaitforever.com/dwpatos.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; something to do with only stating opinions and the opinion was wrong and it's " only " capability ...they pass the buck up onto the DWP who are basically handheld by ATOS

but they are anylising that some royal mail employees are disabled and unable to carry out ANY work for rm, then retiring them on ihr grounds. then when these poor sods are going to claim disability benefit on the dole, the SAME bloody ''analysts'' are declaring them FIT for work. this needs to be addressed by the media this does. they need to be exposed for the conniving pantomime quacks that they are. rant over

[norbert]

cant understand how they havent been sued. a good barrister would rip them apart.

There has been plenty of people who have tried taking these clowns to task but when your up against the system then you've no chance.
One bloke I know and a very clever chap at that took them to court won his case but as it had dragged on for so long by the time he actually won his case he was re referred for another assement and guess what... he failed again,two years of fighting with a brain tumour and now he's back to square one,think they was hoping he would have died by the time it went to court.

they would re - refer him ...pressure from very on high to create a false statistic , the Govt are only interested what looks good in The Daily Mail 40 % win appeals , 70 % with advocacy , 80 % in the trial areas , some CAB ( Citizens Advice ) win 90 % purely based on case law and evidence .

ATOS / DWP have killed off quite a few people indirectly ...however if anyone suggests that ...ATOS resort to " m'learned friends " they don't want a repeat of UNUM getting banned in the States for the same scam . The assessments are as hard to pass as possible . There's people that have " failed " that the Job Centre don't want as even hard bitten cynical seen it all JCP + staff know they are too ill .

[norbert]

cant understand how they havent been sued. a good barrister would rip them apart.

something to do with them only being disability analysts ? think that's the legal get out http://whywaitforever.com/dwpatos.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; something to do with only stating opinions and the opinion was wrong and it's " only " capability ...they pass the buck up onto the DWP who are basically handheld by ATOS

but they are anylising that some royal mail employees are disabled and unable to carry out ANY work for rm, then retiring them on ihr grounds. then when these poor sods are going to claim disability benefit on the dole, the SAME bloody ''analysts'' are declaring them FIT for work. this needs to be addressed by the media this does. they need to be exposed for the conniving pantomime quacks that they are. rant over

bit here in The Daily Mirror about a Derbyshire Postman that was finished by RM ...and they won't pay out easily ...get him through the door on a RTU / Wilful / Intentional Delay / Non Culpable Inefficiency or whatever first ......then was knocked back by ATOS Origin for supposedly swinging the lead ..RM has the most musco - skeletal injuries & conditions in the country http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigation ... -atos.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; quite a row going on in the comments underneath

the problem is it's only The Guardian , Private Eye and the Mirror exposing all these scams ...The Express , Mail , Sun , Star , Times and Telegraph run drip drip stories about people that have been caught red handed swinging the lead to soften people up ...so people think everyone is at it ...then there's all these " experts " commenting ...the saloon bar bores ..." In the Chip Shop " , " My neighbour - him up the road " .." In Wetherspoons " etc , etc , etc.............. fraud is relatively low 0.3 - 0.5 % as people need proper written evidence ...but theres idiots that take the Daily Mail etc as gospel