Posted on 02/08/2011 7:21:35 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
An elderly couple have been arrested on suspicion of killing their daughter who died after two decades battling an extreme form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Ken and Marion Hancox, who are both in ill health, have spent eight months under suspicion of the manslaughter of their housebound daughter, Samantha, a former law student.
The 40-year-old developed a crippling phobia of germs which forced her to shower up to 20 hours a day and left her incapable of cooking for herself.
She developed the disorder as a student and had needed constant care from her parents ever since.
By the time of her death in May last year, she had become effectively housebound, had gone off her food and developed a skin condition.
Mr Hancox, 76, who suffers from cancer, and his wife, 77, who is disabled, claim they were offered no help from local social services and even wrote to the Prime Minister complaining that it felt like they were living in the “stone age”.
When they found their daughter dead in an armchair at their home in Tipton, West Midlands, they initially thought she had slipped into a coma after refusing to eat.
But a post mortem examination showed that she had died from dehydration and bed sores.
The couple were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter shortly afterwards.
They were fingerprinted, photographed and questioned for up to nine hours and have spent the last eight months on bail, which has been repeatedly extended.
Mr Hancox said on Sunday that they had never been told what they were suspected of having done or given any indication of how long they will remain under suspicion.
His wife added: “This has broken me, I was the rock before but this has broken me now.”
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Good God what a tragic story...we will soon have this come to us with Obama care...this woman could have been helped with good mental health care..we still have that here, but who knows for how long!
Heaven help them, they have suffered enough. I thought from the headline it was a “mercy killing” as they feared what would happen to her when they couldn’t care for her any longer.
But she just died. Because she was mentally ill, and got physically ill from that, and now her poor parents who have suffered for decades without any help in carrying this burden, have been charged.
Britain has gone mad.
Wait till ObamaCare hits the USA! We will ENVY these people!
Mr Hancox, 76, who suffers from cancer, and his wife, 77, who is disabled
They took care of their daughter for most of their lives. The state refused to do anything to help. And then when their daughter finally dies because they just couldn't do any more, they come in and accuse the parents of killing her.
They're probably just angry because they didn't hand her over to an NHC Death Panel.
Meantime, I remember reading that a Muslim woman with five kids was given a million dollar house by a town council, plus full benefits. I presume this couple doesn't qualify for that kind of help because they are Brits.
Very sad story. IMHO the couple did what they could based on their age, health etc... They couldn’t commit the young woman and they didn’t throw her out of the house. They seemed to try to cope the best way they could. They don’t deserve to be called murderers.
It’s being defunded.
It sounds as if this woman should have been in psychiatric care. Those poor parents. Can’t say they didn’t ask for help. How can you arrest someone for manslaughter when the woman died basically by her own hand?
How horrible. This is what happens when the state takes over. There is no help, no kindness, and nobody comes out well in the end.
I agree. Maybe she didn’t want to drink water thinking there were germs in it nor bath in it, thus the sores. How horrible for these dear parents.
I would love the geniuses who arrested them to tell us what exactly the correct course of action would have been.
Government can always be trusted to lend a helping hand.
/SARC
This story stinks.
>> “I would love the geniuses who arrested them to tell us what exactly the correct course of action would have been.” <<
.
To let her die of starvation in a hospital bed instead of a chair, thus supporting the medical establishment.
That is just horrible. The headline implied that something else was going on, then it turned out that the parents probably need quite a bit of care themselves.
Aren't there treatments for OCD?
I guess OCD, like kidney dialysis, just doesn't have any cost-effective treatment according to the NHS. Of course, that's what happens when people trust their health to a penny-pinching government entity instead of deciding for themselves what is cost-effective or not.
dehydration ping...
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