A call for help for Martin Veise

HELP! No help for severely disabled during COVID19.

This post is NOT about the Coronavirus, but about how the system may withdraw help from the weakest citizens.

While @Xavier Bettel promises unlimited resources to cover those who will fall out of their jobs due to COVID19, severely handicapped and the weakest citizens lose all help, regardless of their individual situation, condition and dependence.

I express my gratitude towards the public initiatives during the pandemic and I am sincerely happy for those who will get financial aid in case of employment termination.

So, briefly, here’s what I’m talking about:

My uncle, @Martin, suffered a massive brain stroke in November 2018. The stroke was *not* threated by the Robert Schuman Hospital that Martin was taken to. Martin was left paralyzed down through his left side and with severe cognitive damages. Essentially Martin’s wife Anne and his four kids lost him that day. Martin is not even remotely the same person anymore.

After being left untreated under miserable conditions at the hospital for a month, Martin was transferred to the Rehazenter. I have previously written about the conditions at the hospital and Rehazenter here: lux-patient.com, and won’t get into the details of the disastrous conditions at the two institutions.

*I would however like to underline, that Martin was declared traumatized by his stay at the Rehazenter.*

-> This means, that the conditions were so extremely miserable at the Rehazenter, that Martin’s condition as a patient not only declined severely, but additional damage was added to his brain.

Martin received 2 months of rehabilitation in Denmark. One of the two months spent de-traumatizing him... After the two months, Martin was dispatched with a comprehensive report explaining his needs as a patient and how he should receive further treatment. The conclusion of the report is clear - Martin still needs intensive rehabilitation in order to be able to live the rest of his life at an acceptable standard. Acceptable standard defined by being able to walk or go to the toilet for example.

Martin has been home in Luxembourg since August and has not received rehabilitation since then. Myself and Anne was taking care of Martin at home throughout August and September - the report *clearly* states that Martin needed help 24/7. Practically this means that he needs a team of nurses around him, as well as physiotherapists, ergo therapists, a psychologist and/or psychiatrist and a doctor with neuroscientific knowledge.

Despite the urgency, we were not able to get a meeting with Assurance Dependance before October.

The amount of responsibility for such a weak patient, with such needs, is beyond comprehensible. My aunt Anne is doing blood tests, regulating blood thinning medicine and all other medications for Martin.

After tasting the mud of rock bottom, we at least got some help assigned by Assurance Dependence and by the end of 2019 Martin could start going to a daycare facility in Rollingergrund.

*This help has been withdrawn with effect from march 17th, 2020.*

Martin hasn’t had a shower for almost a week now. Martin has still not had a chance to rehabilitate. Anne is taking care of Martin 24/7, while trying to homeschool their 3/4 kids who are still in school. No help is provided.

ZERO.

I would like to underline, that we have not received ANY proactive help from the authorities. This includes any and all doctors we have been in touch with and the health authorities / CNS.

You must fight for what you are entitled to by law and you must figure that out yourself. No guidance has been offered at ANY point since November 2018. We had to proactive ask for information about the stroke itself, the further process, what could be done etc.

On top of the described problems, there’s no help to get from any authority. We have contacted every instance we could, as well as the Family minister, who referred back to the Rehazenter for help.

As a patient, you have a LOT of additional expenses and the public coverage does not correspond to your normal salary, so effectively it means that you will have much less cash available.

Now, one should think, that the loss of a husband and father to 4 should be more than enough to work with and that financial troubles should be the least to worry about.

This is not the case in this country. Should you be as unlucky as my uncle, Martin, you WILL have a reduced income and much higher expenses.

The social authorities cannot offer any help financially, as we are too well off. They recommend that we move out of the country, regardless of 3 of the 4 children being born and raised here.

The banks wont extend credit as we are way too poor.

The European school will not offer ANY deduction in their school fees. Changing school wouldbe incredible hard for the youngest kids and they would lose 2 years of their respective life’s due to the new language they’d need to adapt to.

The insurance has covered absolutely nothing during all this. And I can list example after example.

Now, what undeniably will happen, UNLESS something is being done, is that my family will be forced out of the country due to the lack of help from the government, despite contributing to the society for almost 20 years.

This would mean that Anne and her 4 kids have lost their husband and father, that the kids will have to change school during their grief and give up 2 years of their life, the family will be forced to leave their home and attempt to successfully move WHILE taking care of a 24/7 patient who needs intensive rehabilitation AND homeschooling 3 kids. This isn’t possible.

Let me get to my final words for this round.

Imagine yourself in the same situation. Imagine that your spouse, or child, or parent suffers a massive stroke and you would have to go through the same. Imagine, if you had to see your dearest being unable to move or speak, yet being severely mistreated. Imagine loosing your home and telling your children, that they’d have to move school knowing that it costs 2 years of their lives.

It’s a horrible thought... and living it is worse.

We have literally tried to seek help from the authorities in ANY way possible and we don’t know how to get help at this point.

Here’s what you can do to help us:

• You can share this post to spread the word
• Those who would like to help us financially can donate through this link: https://www.leetchi.com/c/martinveise

The fundraiser has been requested by several friends of the family. We are forever grateful for the support that you are all giving. This is bright light during dark times.

Lastly, I’d like to mention, that the during the last meeting we had with a social worker, it was proposed that we have friends or family take care of Martin on weekends, so that Anne and the KIDS?! Could work. The youngest boys are 12 years of age. We reminded her that we live in 2020 and not 1920 and she then took that back. She had absolutely no words or advice to give. This clearly suggest how dire this situation is...

The above is me objectively documenting our situation. I am working on a comprehensive complaint to the court of human rights as well as the EU. This entails detailed information and documentation as well as evidence supporting the potential breaches of law.

My recommendation: Hedge yourself. This is real and can happen to anyone.

My sincerest gratitude and appreciation towards those who decided to help and especially those who continue to provide help!