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Woman evicted and loses all her possessions while in coma

A WOMAN has recounted her harrowing ordeal of being evicted from her home while she was in a coma.

Juliet Iswan, 43, was in intensive care at Bristol Infirmary Hospital last February after suffering from a stroke.

Ms Iswan, who has sickle cell disease, remained in hospital for 10 months until January 2024. For five weeks of her stay, she was in a coma. 

She said her belongings were either sold or disposed of during this time and she had been evicted from her home.

She is now staying in social housing with nothing but a hospital bed and gown. 

Before her stay in hospital, Ms Iswan had been staying in temporary accommodation owned by Connolly & Callaghan, for eight years. 

Ms Iswan had been in and out of hospital after a severe stroke in 2009 which left her physically disabled and that her agents knew about her condition.

Ms Iswan said: “I was told when I came out of a coma that I had been evicted from my home and all my things were gone.

“The most important things I cannot even put a monetary value on — necklaces, earrings, every gift I ever got from my parents was in that box, my mum, my grandma — and it's all apparently gone.”

“I’m now in a cold house with just a hospital bed and that is it — how can you discharge someone to this life?”

A spokesperson for Connolly & Callaghan said they had “no complaint on file”  but that they generally dispose of possessions after seven days after eviction.

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said that when hospital stays continue “without a known date for discharge,” the accommodation will be assigned to another person.

“Officers will monitor the individual’s situation so that when they are ready to be discharged from hospital, emergency accommodation is found and we continue to work with them to find long term solutions that meet their housing need.”

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