Task-3-TheRight to Die-Koshehkina-Valeria

     Hello!
     I am glad to welcome you on my page again!

     Honestly, today I have a very serious and maybe even unpleasant topic for discussion. It is about death.
     I have just read a horrible article from The Guardian about dead people in a mental hospital. It's big enough but it's worth your attention. Here is a link: Emaciated, mutilated, dead: the mental health scandal that rocked South Africa.

     So, it happened in September 2016 in South Africa in a small town. Phumzile Motshegwa received a call from an unknown number. The woman on the end of the line said Motshegwa’s brother, Solly, was dead. His body was at a funeral parlour in Atteridgeville, a township in South Africa.  
     Solly had lived in hospital since a 1989 machete attack during political clashes left him brain damaged. He had been happy and healthy, and recently celebrated his 54th birthday. Now his body lay in front of her, emaciated and mutilated.


     What happened to Solly – and hundreds of other patients with mental health problems who died in gruesome circumstances – has come to be known as the worst human rights scandal to hit democratic South Africa.

     Over eight months between 2015 and 2016, some 1,700 vulnerable and mentally ill peoplewere moved from Life Esidimeni, a cluster of privately run mental healthcare facilities in Gauteng province, to various unlicensed care homes – many of which were simple suburban residences hastily repurposed.

      This event ignited a political scandal. No one cared for sick people. The government decided to save money and transferred sick people to unequipped unlicensed facilities not adapted for treatment. These "hospitals" were not sponsored, respectively, people did not receive medicines, food, clothing, and so on. Many patients died of hunger. But what impressed me most of all is that the relatives of the the sick people did not know about moving to other premises. The patients were simply tied up, wound up in vans and transported in a mysterious way. Without warning.

      In the article there are a lot of examples of such relatives who lost their loved ones due to the irresponsible behavior of the government.
     I very much sympathize with the relatives of the dead and I believe that the guilty should be punished. By the way, no one was charged in this case.
     And what do you think about it? Is the government should be responsible for these deaths? Do sick people have the right to die or can they be disposed of without their knowledge? How do you think did these people know what was happening at that moment?
     I'm really interested in you opinion and hope you will answer me.
     Also, I found some unknown words for me and I hope they will be useful for you:

•  funeral parlour- похоронный зал.  Relatives came to the funeral parlour to say goodbye.

• unlicensed facilities- нелицензированные объекты. The government  transferred sick people to unlicensed facilities.

• to sob- рыдать. I sobbed for a year.

•  laudable- похвальный, доброкачественный. Her actions towards the poor are laudable

• implementation- реализация, осуществление. Officials joke the nation’s first-world policies are stymied by developing-world implementation.

• traumatised- травмированный.  They were traumatised by the consequences.

• emaciated- истощенный. He was emaciated, he hadn’t eaten and he hadn’t been given his tablets

• to fluctuate- колебаться, меняться. Temperature fluctuates from 0 to 8 degrees.

• post-mortem- посмертное вскрытие. Many families have been refused post-mortem.

• dehydration and abuse- обезвоживание и злоупотребление. They died of hunger, dehydration and abuse.