"He was described as "one of the nicest people in showbiz" and was one of a generation of comedians that included Eric Morecambe, Bernard Manning and Tommy Cooper." [Belfast Telegraph]
He cracked us up the way he told 'em, but the man who gave us tears of laughter leaves us with tears of heartache...
Frank Carson’s daughter reveals heartache
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| Frank Carson |
THE daughter of one of Ulster’s best-known comedians has spoken of her father’s final days and how the family helped hasten his end.
Majella Carson, daughter of Belfast funnyman Frank, said she was “upset” at being faced with the nightmare scenario, but felt the Liverpool Pathway method of easing his distress was more humane.
Recalling the day her family faced the heartbreaking decision, Majella said the doctors told them to “start making preparations”.
She said: “We didn’t want to start planning the funeral; that would have been accepting it was over.
“Da had been distressed during the day so they’d [doctors] put him on the Liverpool Pathway and injected him with morphine; it’s very controversial at the moment as some patients are put on it without their families’ consent and it means no more water or food is given to them.
“I was very upset about it but they said it was the best care plan for him, the most humane way for him to go.
“There was no way he could have come back.”
Frank Carson was born in north Belfast and starred in local clubs before moving to England where his television career took off in the mid 1960s.
He suffered from cancer and was buried from St Patrick’s Church in his native city last February.
In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph this week, Majella said her father died, aged 85, just two days after beginning the Liverpool Pathway programme in a Blackpool hospital.
“At least we all had a chance to say goodbye. He died two days later on Pancake Tuesday – we said it was so he wouldn’t have to go off anything for Lent, not that he would’ve,” she added.
The family are taken aside by members of the care team, coerced
by gentle persuasion and by authoritative argument, and finally submit to the
power of medical opinion and the temerity of arrogance that underlies it:
"Before the decision is made, there needs to be discussions with the patient’s family and there needs to be an acceptance that the patient is dying. The Liverpool Care Pathway only comes in when that recognition has been made." [Graeme Hendry]
We are all of us faced with personal choices we have no choice
but to make. We can only ever hope and pray the choices we make are the right
ones and act accordingly.
Neither my Father, nor we his Family, ever had any say in the matter.
ReplyDeleteMy Father was starved to death over a period of 25 days in the Belfast City Hospital.
Medication was repeatedly withdrawn without our knowledge.
liquid was also eventually withdrawn, again without our knowledge, my Father becoming so dehydrated that his tongue split.
My Father died in terror and agony, and my Mother declined rapidly, and died a short time after as a consequence.
My Father joined the Navy in 1939 at the outbreak of the war.
He was 15 years old.
He took part in the Battle of Cape Bon whilst serving on H.M.S. Maori.
The Maori was also part of the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla that took part in the pursuit, and sinking of the Battleship Bismarck.
He was wounded at Battle stations on H.M.S. Penelope in Malta, and recovered in the Hospital there.
When He was well enough to walk, he was given an army uniform, and a rifle, in readiness for the invasion which they believed would follow the siege.
He then boarded a Wellington Bomber, flew to Egypt, where he was taken by lorry to Alexandria, joining H.M.S. Euryalus.
My Father also helped in the preparations for D.Day, clearing mines in anticipation of the coming invasion.
My Father fought against Nazi tyranny, and their acts of euthanasia and genocide.
He was of the generation who voted in the Attlee
government, the architects of the N.H.S.
How Aneurin Bevan must be turning in his grave, to witness what passes for care of the sick, and elderly in this God Forsaken Age.
James McElwee jas759@live.com