Troops Are Mustered
The government has mustered its anonymous bureaucratic
troops into an ominous army which is mounting a fearsome campaign to drive the helpless
and hapless off disability. People who are indisposed, cripple or severely ill
are receiving notices that could be deemed ludicrous were they not so
threatening. The notices are evil not only for their content but more so for
the remote, impersonal manner in which their conclusions are drawn.
Apparently the records of sick patients are being perused by
some hirelings of the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), (perhaps
better named UID (Unhealthy and Inhuman
Disservices) who then send these sick and disabled people notices that read as
follows.
“You said you were disabled because of X disease. The
medical evidence shows that you do have X disease which caused some weight loss
and tiredness. Your depression has not affected your ability to understand,
remember, cooperate with others and perform normal daily activities. You are
able to lift and carry 10 pounds frequently and up to 20 pounds occasionally.
You can stand six hours, walk six hours and sit six hours. You cannot climb and
are limited to occasional stooping. Based on the description of your job which
you performed for one year, we have concluded that you have the ability to
return to work. The determination was made by an agency of the state and not by
individuals or agencies who submitted reports.”
Even the language is strange, as if it were a printout from
an automation started by a quarter dropped in a slot.
I guess it sounds reasonable on paper, but one patient who
received this notice cannot sit six hours, stand six hors or walk six hours.
Six minutes would be a better estimate. The weight loss referred to was 30% of
the patient’s normal weight.
From whence these strange gymnastic determinations? No one
saw this young person, no one asked about physical ability to stand, walk, sit,
stoop or lift weights.
Of course the cruel sophistry of this junket to the land of
fantasy is that even if the patient were able to return to work no work is
available.
Many patients who receive such notices are sick and disabled
as attested by their doctors, and in some cases by other doctors acting as
referees. None the less the notices pour forth robbing the sick and maimed of a
tatter of hope and leaving them mystified as to the bizarre circumstances by
which unknown people who have never met
them can come to so devastating conclusions.
It so bothers me that I wrote to Governor Kean and also sent
the following letter to President Reagan (for although the determination was
made by a state agency the final decision was made by the federal government’s
department of
“Dear President Reagan: Enclosed are copies of letters from
your government. This anonymous judgement
is being rendered on a patient who is extremely ill, who experienced a
45 pound weight loss during the last two years, the result of a disease for
which no cause is known and for which no treatment to date has been successful.
“How is it possible that a judgement of this sort can be
rendered by a person unacquainted with the people in the case and given
credibility by the Department of
“The whole business is stealthy and degrading. This person
can no more stand for six hours or walk for six hours or sit at a machine for
six hours than you or I could win a marathon. The patient is desperately ill. Were
this some waif from
“This business is demeaning and unworthy of our government
and I would hope that another more decent mechanism could be established for determining
disability problems.
“I don’t like to belabor this, but in case you have not
gotten the point, the statements made in this report to the patient are nothing
but lies.”