Kostelka/Brinek: Who Looks After Families With Vigil Coma Patients?
Who Looks After Families With Vigil Coma Patients?
ORF-Series "Bürgeranwalt" (“Advocate for People”) – Broadcast of Oktober 25th 2008
Family M. from Upper Austria has so far been left alone by public authorities with its various problems.
July 25th 2004 was the day that abruptly changed the life of family M. Her 22-year old son became victim of a motorcycle accident and since there is a vigil coma patient. After a long stay and intensive care in hospital the family decided to bring their son back home. Since the middle of 2005 the family devotionally looks after him. He actually is unable to move and has to be looked after around the clock. The parents and the still minor brothers and sisters shoulder this burden, since-according to the family member's perception-Hubert reacts with paralytic attacks on strange people. The social and financial situation has deteriorated dramatically since his parents decided to nurse him at home.
On the one hand the family has huge financial obligations due to the construction of a new house, on the other hand the monthly costs of a professional therapy for vigil coma patients are exceptionally high and have to be burdened by the family.
Ms. M. shoulders the biggest part of the care, which often costs too much of her physical and emotional energy. Parallel to the care of his son, 57 year old Mr. M. built up a driving sale's business to ensure the family's economic survival. His impaired health-situation has caused financial losses constituting a serious threat to the family's financial survival, since nobody knows how they can go on.
After a serious hip surgery and a herniated vertebral disc Mr. M. has now to decide, whether he should give back his business license, which would mean, that he no longer could claim a substitution income from the social insurance. In this case he also had to renounce on his health insurance and the one for his daughter guaranteed by Austrian law. The next hip operation will have to take place soon. It is not yet clear, whether a invalidity pension will be paid. It is hardly understandable for him, that the far higher costs for his son's stationary care would be paid by social insurance authorities, while families who decided to nurse vigil coma patients at home and did not even ask for a nursering place in a home do not get adequate financial support from the public hand.
Mr. and Ms. M. are not used to the often difficult legal procedures before public au-thorities and therefore have neither received any legal help nor found a competent contact person to whom they could tell their difficult situation.
It was the Ombudsman, who informed the family about the possibility of a refund of the therapy costs by the Regional Government of Upper Austria in exceptionally severe cases. Because of the special needs of Mr. and Ms. M. and their minor daughter with regard to family oriented consultation, Ombudsman Dr. Kostelka proposed the establishment of special needs coordinators („Bedarfskoordinatoren“) assisting families of persons with urgent need of care who have to interact with public authorities They are also supposed to be a help for these families by accompanying them through their lives. During the broadcast the representative of the Government of Upper Austria promised to personally deal with the case of family M. and to elaborate a common solution with all the involved social insurance authorities.