Kent-Ove Forsell in Krylbo received warnings at work when he had not worn a helmet and took waste wood home with him. He continued to break rules despite warnings.
"I guess I was a little angry that you would be fired, that you kind of didn't behave," says his wife Karin Forsell.
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After the warnings, he went to the doctor. But before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and was on sick leave, he had quit his job. The sickness allowance therefore made him react. It was several thousand lower than if he had kept his job. Both Kent-Ove and his wife Karin Forsell think it is unfair. They are convinced that he lost his job because of how the disease changed him. It should be possible to get full sickness allowance in arrears, they say.
– I can understand that he feels that way, says business area manager Daniel Grynfarb at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and continues:
– At the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, we cannot act in cases before we become aware that someone is on sick leave and has a diagnosis. And we have done so in his case, once we became aware of it.
Minister: "An issue we will have to look at"
Kent-Ove Forsell has received sickness allowance completely according to the rules – changing them is a matter for the Riksdag, which makes laws, explains Daniel Grynfarb.
Social Security Minister Anna Tenje (M) does not want to comment on the individual case.
"I can't and can't. But this is an issue that we simply have to take with us and look at," she says.
Different assessments
At the memory clinic in Solna, about 400 dementia patients of working age are enrolled. According to counsellor Lotta Lindgren, many of them have problems with the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.
"We in healthcare cannot see what it is that separates patients because they may be just as ill but receive different assessments.
Daniel Grynfarb does not want to comment on the individual cases but says:
"If there are differences, it's obviously not good that they are there. We want you to receive the same compensation from us if the circumstances are sufficiently similar. Then there are always differences between individuals that mean that the outcome can be different," he says.
The largest group of dementia sufferers is over 80 years of age. About 10,000 people living with dementia in Sweden are under the age of 65, according to the Dementia Association.