Mother killed herself after healthcare service ''hounded' her over a $37 bill, family claims

A woman committed suicide when faced with constant demands that she pay overdue medical bills.

A British mother of two, Penny Oliver, 54, committed suicide after running into debt over the medication she needed to treat her depression, reported Mirror.com on November 17, 2018.

Oliver started receiving bills from the British National Health Service for medication, adding on penalty fees and surcharges that took the amount owed from £20.60 to £120.60 - and that was just one of her bills.

DEPRESSED WOMAN DEEMED FIT FOR WORK

Oliver, who had been working part-time in a Tapas Bar, was told her benefits were being cut because she was fit to go back to work. As a consequence, she had to pay for her medication.

Since Oliver's benefits were cut, her income suffered a drastic reduction and it was at that time that the Department for Work and Pensions and her Council informed her that she owed them overpaid benefits and back taxes.

THREATENED BY THE HEALTH SERVICE

Oliver who had sunk into a depression when her 15-year-old son had died of an overdose 5 years before, was sent a letter threatening to take her to court over her debts and that her employer - her sole means of sustenance - would be informed of her situation.

DESPERATE WOMAN GIVES AWAY HER DOG

Oliver's situation worsened daily. She had mounting debts and only a few pounds in the bank. Her situation was so desperate that she gave her dog away to a friend because she could no longer afford to feed it.

HER CRY FOR HELP WENT UNHEARD

Oliver went to her doctor and told him that her depression and her anxiety had worsened. According to her daughter, Charlotte, 29, Oliver had told him that she had been having suicidal thoughts.

Oliver took her own life, overdosing on the anti-depression medication she could no longer afford. Her family found her on her bed, surrounded by piles of payment demands and threatening letters from the NHS and the DWP.

Oliver's family is bitter and outraged, pointing out that the very institutions that should have protected their mother hounded her to her death.

The institutions in question made public declarations in which they claimed that Penny Oliver could have appealed against their claims and that she had been given information and advice on how to apply for further benefits.”

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A FAILED SUICIDE ATTEMPT DESTROYED A YOUNG WOMAN'S FACE

Katie Stubblefield attempted to take her own life with a rifle. She placed the barrel under her chin and pulled the trigger, but the results were very different from what she had imagined.

The bullet failed to kill her, but disfigured the pretty 19-year-old, and left her with severe intracranial injuries. Katie was taken to a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee where doctors stabilized her jaw and cheekbones, fixed a torn brain membrane and sewed her eyelids shut just so her corneas could recover.

But every skin graft they placed on Katie's face failed, and they could not get her wounds to close. Katie was transferred to Cleveland Clinic, where doctors proposed a face transplant to Katie's family.

Katie's new face was donated by a 31-year-old woman named Adrea Schneider, who had died from a drug overdose. The surgery lasted for 31 hours and involved a team of 11 surgeons and 15 specialists to give Katie her new face.