Tonight’s TV - Life and Death on the NHS
Thursday, July 10th, 2008One-off Doctors & Nurses Doc
Celebrating 60 years of the NHS, this one-off documentary follows three people needing hospital treatment for life-threatening conditions.
Diagnosed with a benign brain tumour when she was just 14, Rebecca is back in hospital two years later with the news that the tumour has grown and will kill her if left untreated. Her mother, Chris, is struggling to cope with the pain of watching her child go through life-threatening surgery. 26 year old Nicky cannot climb the stairs because of her diseased heart, and undergoes heart-transplant surgery. 50-year-old Rosemary from Coventry is fighting for her life after crashing her car head-on into a bus.
60 years after its foundation the NHS treats 13 million people a year. This touching and sensitive documentary observes the pain as well as the miracles of treatment, and you cannot help but admire the talent of the specialists who perform the surgery. Nicky’s new heart is so powerful that it takes some getting used to; caught off-guard, her mother is struck by the implications of carrying around somebody else’s heart: “The thought that somebody else has had to die for this… you try not to think about it, but it’s still there,” she weeps.
Life and Death on the NHS, Tonight, 9pm, ITV1.
