Motor Neurone Disease: Court hears terminal illness benefit review

A woman who has Motor Neurone Disease is challenging the legal definition of a terminal illness after she had to wait more than a year to qualify for Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Lorraine Cox, who is from Derrylin, is seeking a judicial review at Belfast High Court.

She told BBC News NI her award of benefits should have been fast-tracked without the need for assessment.

PIP replaced Disability Living Allowance in 2016.

Ms Cox said she had worked all her adult life and received her diagnosis in 2017 when she was 37.

There is no effective treatment for Motor Neurone Disease, which sees muscle waste away after a loss of nerve cells that control movement, speech and breathing.

It is estimated that about half of the 1,500 people diagnosed each year in the UK die within 24 months.

"When I got the diagnosis, I thought, well you know, this is pretty straightforward as you would think, you'd get your benefits and you'd have a chance then to move on with your life and live whatever time you have left as best as possible," Lorraine Cox told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster.

"However, that has not been the case."

Despite having letters from her GP and consultant to confirm her condition was life-limiting, she was approved for PIP in February 2020 following two years of mandatory reconsiderations, tribunals, appeals, two PIP applications and face-to-face assessments.

Ms Cox added she wanted to speak out to explain how "patronising it is and intimidating, and belittling".

"For anyone who is terminally ill they don't need this additional stress.

"This should be eradicated and I would hope going forward, please God, common sense will prevail and the legislation will be reviewed and changed so that people like myself will never have to go through this interrogation process."

She continued: "I know a lot of people can relate to this.

"I suppose probably an awful lot of people have given up or did give up, because I felt like giving up many a time."

Ms Cox said she was taking the judicial review "to make sure no one else" has to go through the same process.

The hearing is set to continue on Friday.