'Disturbing': Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
apnews.com
TORONTO (AP) — Alan Nichols had a history of depression and other medical issues, but none were life-threatening. When the 61-year-old Canadian was hospitalized in June 2019 over fears he might be suicidal, he asked his brother to “bust him out” as soon as possible.
  • ShareThatBread [he/him, he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    In one recording obtained by the AP, the hospital’s director of ethics told Foley that for him to remain in the hospital, it would cost “north of $1,500 a day.” Foley replied that mentioning fees felt like coercion and asked what plan there was for his long-term care.

    Frazee cited the case of Candice Lewis, a 25-year-old woman who has cerebral palsy and spina bifida. Lewis’ mother, Sheila Elson, took her to an emergency room in Newfoundland five years ago. During her hospital stay, a doctor said Lewis was a candidate for euthanasia and that if her mother chose not to pursue it, that would be “selfish,” Elson told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

    I am just astounded at these incidents in particular.

    • charly4994 [she/her, comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Working in the US's healthcare system I've seen similar levels of disregard for patient wellbeing. A man was unable to walk, it required me to essentially hold all his weight as he shuffled very unsteadily to a wheelchair. I almost got a back injury from a single transfer and it took like a week for it to feel normal. He had terminal cancer and it had spread into some nerve endings which made moving excruciatingly painful. To top it all off he worked for the hospital for like 20+ years. When they wanted the bed open, they were going to send him home to an unsafe environment where his family couldn't properly care for him.

      I've also had to discharge a homeless man back onto the street because the hospital didn't want to wait a day or two to make sure they could find a safe hotel for him to stay at for like a week post-discharge. They view it as the system failing him, but they're not part of that system so they can sleep at night.

      You have incidents where a TB exposure happens in a shared room and they conclude that the roommate didn't need to be informed. At least two patient deaths occurred on the unit I worked on that were as a result of pure neglect. One man fell out of bed and nobody checked on him throughout the entire night shift so when they were doing rounds they found him out of bed and dead. Nurse got no real punishment after that. Then you had an ICU nurse not check a patient the entire night and tried to draw blood out of a dead man and couldn't figure out that he was dead until someone else came into the room.

      Mistakes happen, but hospitals care more about their bottom line and open beds, if the US had this sort of euthanasia program it would most certainly be abused to an even worse degree.

      • LeninWalksTheWorld [any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        If the US had an euthanasia program it would be the only free healthcare you could get in this damn country. :amerikkka:

    • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
      ·
      2 years ago

      If I've understood the Foley case in particular, the reason they are charging him 1,500 a day is because he says that his previous government issued long term care plan ended up with him getting food poisoned and injuries from the care provided at home, and they refuse to grant him any agency over his own care, therefore he is refusing to leave the hospital. So you dont exactly seem to get a freedom to choose when it comes to how you'll live with fatal conditions.