It would be nice. And at one point, I needed such benefits and was really grateful. But I'm sure you can find many stories of worse circumstances every day. Should The Guardian have a donate link at the bottom of every story about someone unfortunate? Would the money be better spent trying to get things changed?

It was only a suggestion, not mandatory. I just noticed that the discussion was heading into the usual "intellectually stimulating" HN route where people arguing over occupational safety & industrial regulations and away from the poor lady that lost both her hands stripping her from a very crucial income source for the rest of her life.

This organization can probably help her directly with the prosthetic hands: http://www.ln-4.org/