THE government was slammed for failing a young mother with severe mental illness after an inquest revealed that she took an overdose when the removal of disability benefits left her destitute. Philippa Day was trapped in a months-long state of high anxiety and haunted by suicidal thoughts after she lost her benefits while suffering from agoraphobia and was unable to attend a face-to-face assessment, coroner Gordon Clow said on Wednesday. Her long struggle with the benefits system had been a “stressor” in her decision to take the overdose in August 2019, Mr Clow said. Ms Day was found unconscious at her home by her sister and father, with a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by her side and notes left on her computer that said that her dealings with the government department left her feeling “trapped and isolated from the world.”