ME patient found dead of heart failure and malnutrition

[Countrygirl]

CFS sufferer may have died of heart failure and malnutrition, inquest hears | This is Local London | 18 September 2014

From This is This is Local London, 18 September 2013.
A Wood Green man died on his birthday from natural causes, an inquest has ruled.
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/201...hears-this-is-local-london-18-september-2014/

Paul Hancock, of Clyde Road, Wood Green, died on February 26 this year, the same day as his 53rd birthday.
A post mortem suggested he died of a heart failure and malnutrition at his Wood Green home.
Mr Hancock, who was born in Brazil, was a trainee psychotherapist but had been out of work since 1998 after being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)....

Coroner Andrew Walker concluded that Mr Hancock had died of natural causes

 

[Tito]

And what the psychiatrist did when he saw his patient being 'very pale'? Did he advise him to go and see a GP?
:/

 

[maryb]

And what the psychiatrist did when he saw his patient being 'very pale'? Did he advise him to go and see a GP?
:/

Not a chance, see yoiu in 6 months - And this is what the NHS pays these pillocks for...........

 

[jeffrez]

Maybe he was just pale from scaring himself with all his somatizing.

 

[SOC]

Any idea why he was malnourished? I can see one of us dying suddenly of heart failure, but malnourishment (Is that a real word? ) shouldn't be a problem unless there was severe medical or social neglect. Did his GP miss a major absorption problem? Or perhaps this man was not physically able to shop/cook for himself and needed social services he didn't get...? Something's very wrong with this picture.

And why are they so focused on saying he had no suicidal intent? Do many people commit suicide by heart failure and malnourishment? Why are they even bringing it up? Shouldn't the issue be more one of neglect than suicidal intent?

 

[Sushi]

My guess is that many of us here struggle to shop and cook. In some countries there is help available for these basics but in others, there is not. I fear that many on this forum are undernourished just because they are not able to adequately take care of themselves and/or don't have the money for good food.

Really a tragic situation for some. So sorry to hear this story.

Sushi

 

[Desdinova]

Whats with the hang up about him not taking antidepressants and not being suicidal? I can't help but wonder if it was the reporter asking the officials involved if he was taking antidepressants and suicidal thinking CFS=Depressed and Depression not treated = suicidal thoughts/ killing yourself.

 

[Sea]

Maybe they're just trying to say he didn't deliberately starve himself to death. Not well put though

 

[SOC]

Maybe they're just trying to say he didn't deliberately starve himself to death. Not well put though

Starving yourself to death is a helluva way to commit suicide. Strange they'd even suggest that was a possibility. It's only marginally less odd than making a big deal out of the fact that he didn't make his heart fail on purpose.

Perhaps the reporter was as mystified as I am as to why someone would die of malnourishment under the care of multiple medical professionals in a developed country, so suicide was the only thing s/he could come up with. Turned out not to be true, apparently, but the idea was stuck in the reporter's head so it had to go in the article. I guess the reporter couldn't mentally process that medical/social neglect would be a more likely situation.

 

[Sasha]

Kind of ironic that in the 'what's new' view of the forum, this thread is followed by the one about the woman with ME awarded $1.2 million in compensation because her ME followed vaccination. Real extremes of outcome.

So sad, this. And what bizarre reporting.

 

[rosie26]

It sounds like this poor man actually died from ME. The heart in severe ME can feel so crushed and deeply suppressed that it hardly beats. Sounds like he was in severe bedridden ME state and trying to cope on his own. Too terribly and agonizingly ill to feed himself. It is very upsetting.

 

[biophile]

Sounds like he died of heart failure. Malnourishment could have been due to CFS, both would have worsened cardiac health. It is also a myth that all people with suicidal thoughts are clinically depressed, they are related but not synonymous.

 

[Shell]

It looks like the question of suicide or suicidal thought was asked of his psychiatrist with a view that as the poor man had a pysch then he may have had suicidal thought.
It's odd that when the autopsy showed heart failure and malnutrition that the question of suicide was pushed but then as SOC notes CFS is seen by too many dim reporters as mental illness.

Heart failure is supposed to be the number one killer for people with ME. If he had serious gut problems too (hardly a rare occurrence in ME) then the poor man must have been very ill.
Can't help wondering too if the poor man was only getting psych appts for his ME and so the actual disease wasn't being treated at all.

 

[user9876]

It looks like the question of suicide or suicidal thought was asked of his psychiatrist with a view that as the poor man had a pysch then he may have had suicidal thought.
It's odd that when the autopsy showed heart failure and malnutrition that the question of suicide was pushed but then as SOC notes CFS is seen by too many dim reporters as mental illness.

Heart failure is supposed to be the number one killer for people with ME. If he had serious gut problems too (hardly a rare occurrence in ME) then the poor man must have been very ill.
Can't help wondering too if the poor man was only getting psych appts for his ME and so the actual disease wasn't being treated at all.

Maybe the coroner was asking about suicide as he was wondering why the man was under the care of a psychiatrist and not a cardiologist or someone else looking at the physical symptoms. It would be interesting to know if part of his 'treatment' included being told to ignore physical symptoms.

 

[maryb]

One thing for certain though is that it won't be investigated further. I would think he just got weaker and weaker, with no-one to help him - very possible with ME. Its like anorexia can cause heart failure - same thing.
Your heart goes out to the poor man for all the suffering he endured, and no help from the professionals.
See you in 6 months...........how do they sleep.
And as for the reporting - imbeciles.

 

[Sasha]

I see it's possible to leave comments on that article.

 

[Guido den Broeder]

Malnourishment in ME can easily go unnoticed because you may still have a normal weight.

 

[alex3619]

Malnourishment in ME can easily go unnoticed because you may still have a normal weight.

Agreed. Most people think of malnourishment as insufficient energy dense food such as carbs, but it can occur due to deficiency of key nutrients. If he was eating nothing but canned or packet carbohydrate for example, for long enough, that would do it. So would having no essential fats in the diet including from meat or similar. So would a variety of intolerances that restricted his diet. If severe diet restrictions combined with incapacity to shop or cook, and nobody was checking on him, that could also be fatal.

 

[taniaaust1]

Very sad, this guy must of suffered so much. I bet he was getting no treatment at all other then being sent to the psychologist every 6mths who couldnt help him.

Im surprised more dont die from malnourishment from this illness, that would of too placed strain onto his heart. How can that be called a death from "natural causes"? , is it really natural to die from maybe malnourishment in England?. As another said, one can still look a healthy weight but die from malnourishment.

The poor guy was probably unable to cook much and on a diet in which he couldnt just get enough healthy easy food. Dying from not being able to eat well is one of my fears and why Im fighting the system over here so darn hard to get my needs met. Its not right many of us are missing meals due to this illness.

Poor guy obviously couldnt take care of himself so was having to rely on the kindness of others eg his neighbour .. "after a neighbour had collected a parcel for Mr Hancock "

 

[chronix]

Do we know anything else about the post-mortem? Any signs of inflammation, like the dorsal root ganglionitis found in another ME sufferer that died a few years ago?