Son, 13, Says Revocation of Benefits Killed His Disabled Father

Larkhall, SCOTLANDSuspected bureaucratic bungling or heartless posturing is no respecter of any one particular location in the world. It appears to happen everywhere. And when people come forward with apparent wrongly denied disability claims, the resulting blood boil can often be felt half a world away…

Witness the story of Brian McArdle, a 57-year-old Scott who lived in the small town of Larkhall, located in South Lanarkshire, Scotland just a dozen miles northeast of Glasgow. McArdle, at the age of 56, suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed down his entire left side.

Not only that, the stroke had left McArdle with speech problems, difficulty eating, and blindness in one eye. The former security guard could barely dress himself, and was relegated to relying on a scooter to get around. A panic alarm accompanied him everywhere in case he should ever become ill.

And yet, according to a report published by The Scotsman (11/2/12), the incapacitated man was deemed fit for work by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the governing body in the UK for capability assessments in that region.

According to The Scotsman, McArdle suffered a subsequent stroke days before his assessment. Rather than receiving verification his insurance payments would continue, McArdle—in the throes of recovery from the second stroke—was told he would be losing his disability benefits, presumably as part of a massive effort to trim budgets for benefit payments.

His benefits were stopped on September 26th. The next day, McArdle suffered a massive heart attack. He died in hospital September 28, just two days after losing his benefits.

McArdle was separated from his wife and son at the time of his death. His son Kieran accuses the government of acting in bad faith and pulling his father's benefits in an attempt to save money.

The 13-year-old boy feels the government had a direct part to play in the death of his father. He told The Scotsman he was devastated when his father became a victim of wrongly denied disability claims. "How could he possibly be fit for work?

"My dad was severely disabled after he took a massive stroke which caused a blood clot in his brain," he said. "How disabled do you have to be to get disability benefits? That's what I want to know. My dad was a very proud man and didn't like asking for help, financial or otherwise, but the money helped him retain some kind of dignity."

Many an insurer, regardless of country of origin, will attempt to deny a legitimate benefits claim allegedly in an effort to protect profits. Those who operate in good faith, whether they be insurance providers or government programs, understand the responsibility a provider has to a policyholder, most of whom carry insurance contracts in good standing across many years as a hedge against the future if suddenly, they are unable to work.

A provider, who takes an obviously legitimate claim and pushes for denial, is operating in bad faith.

Kieran McArdle feels those who were responsible for his father's wrongly denied disability claims, and ultimately his death, should hang their heads in shame.