Profiles

Here, you can find any of the interviews on this site.



Rifat

Over the last two months Rifat's family have spent £20,000 in hospital bills, ventilation and medicines to keep her father alive. The family is now moving him home mostly for financial reasons. Rifat worries about her mother.

  • Background

    Rifat is a PhD researcher at the University of York. Her father, aged 70 and living in Bangladesh, suffered a cardiac arrest. He remains alive 9 weeks later, in a...

  • Sex/Gender Female

    • Peter, Olga & Andrew

    Theo's life was going well, and he had just set up his own hair-dressing business when, in 2005, at the age of 34, he was severely injured in a car accident. He emerged from a coma after a few weeks and appeared minimally aware, he has gone on to make some significant recovery in spite of doctors grim predictions. Nine years after the accident he is now looked after at home, by his family and a team of professional carers.

  • Background

    Peter and Andrew are the older brothers of Theo. Olga is Peter’s wife, Theo’s sister-law. Peter previously worked as a DJ, but now both he and Olga concentrate on looking...

  • Sex/Gender Male

    • David and Olivia

    In 2008, at the age of 53, David's mother had a brain haemorrhage and never regained consciousness. She was eventually diagnosed as being in a permanent vegetative state. In 2013 the Court of Protection declared that it was lawful and in her best interests to have artificial nutrition and hydration withdrawn. She died later that year.

  • Background

    David (aged 35) is the patient’s son and Olivia (aged 36) is David’s wife. They were the main family carers after David’s mother had a brain haemorrhage. David is self-employed...

  • Sex/Gender Male

    • Emma

    Emma's seventy year old mother had a stroke, followed by a brain bleed. The intensive care consultant said there was nothing that could be done for her mother, but Emma could not accept this. A decision was made to insert a feeding tube and Emma's mother survived another three years without ever regaining consciousness.

  • Background

    Emma is married with two young adult children.

  • Sex/Gender Female

    • Fern

    In 2010, Fern was about to give birth to their first child, when her partner had a cardiac arrest that left him severely brain injured. He was only 28 years old. Fern fought hard to ensure he would get every intervention and have a chance to recover. However, she has now thinks continuing to subject him to life-prolonging interventions is cruel and pointless.

  • Background

    Fern is the mother of one daughter.

  • Sex/Gender Female

    • Mark and Helen

    On 10th March 2011 Mark's brother was hit by a car while cycling. Three years later, Mark and Helen have not yet been given a definitive diagnosis or prognosis but are hopeful that he may still recover sufficiently to a life that he would consider worth living. Mark is not sure whether or not, or to what extent, his brother is aware of himself or his surroundings, or whether he will ever become so, but in the meantime he is trying to ensure that his brother gets the best possible medical care.

  • Background

    Mark, aged 56, and Helen, aged 54, are a married couple. Mark is an arts centre manager and Helen works in retail.

  • Sex/Gender Male

    • Nik

    In 2007 when he was 42, Nik's father fell down some steps and hit his head. He has been apparently completely unconscious ever since and Nik does not believe he would want to live like this. Some years earlier he had suffered a brain haemorrhage and a stroke, following which he had been left with left-side paralysis and memory difficulties, but able to live independently. Nik and her father were extremely close and after that incident he told Nik that if he had another stroke and lost the ability to be independent, he would not want to be kept alive.

  • Background

    Nik is a single mother of one child, and is a care worker.

  • Sex/Gender Female