Man who was too ill to attend fit-for-work interview but terrified of losing benefits dies after Atos test
CHARLIE McGARVEY'S seriously ill brother Terry, 48, attended his Atos assessment and then had to be taken to hospital where he died the following day.
A SERIOUSLY ill man died hours after he was hauled into an Atos fit-for-work assessment.
Terry McGarvey knew he wasn't well enough to attend the hearing. But he was terrified his benefits would be stopped if he didn't turn up.
He dragged himself to the assessment but had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance. Terry, 48, died the next day.
His brother Charlie, 50, said: "He said he felt terrible and didn't think he could leave the house.
"But he was worried they'd take his benefits away if he didn't go.
"When he went in, he sat down with a young woman who started asking him questions.
"I pointed out that he needed an ambulance, not a medical.
"They put us into a room next door and lay him on a bed. We waited more than an hour for the ambulance without anyone coming in to even ask how he was."
Terry, who had blood disorder polycytheamia, died in Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary from pneumonia last month. His death certificate also lists liver disease.
Charlie, from Glasgow, said Atos's trained medical assessors should have realised his brother, a former lorry driver, was dangerously ill.
He added: "I think that if they had a doctor in there, they would have got an ambulance immediately.
"The girl who was supposed to be doing the examination never brought out a stethoscope or anything. They just put him in the room next door and that was the last we saw of her."
An Atos spokesman said: "We would like to express our condolences to Mr McGarvey and
his family.
As soon as we were made aware that Mr McGarvey had taken ill, we offered our assistance and called for an ambulance."
A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: "The call was clinically triaged as a non-emergency based on detailed information provided by the caller.
"The caller was advised that the response to a non-emergency call at that time could take up to an hour but to call 999 again if the patient'scondition deteriorated."
On Friday, victims of fit-to-work tests welcomed the news that Atos are ending their contract to carry out
Work Capability Assesments for the Department for Work and Pensions.
Thousands of seriously ill and vulnerable people have been deemed fit to work by the tests, only for the verdicts to be overturned on appeal.
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