Quebec wants to unblock hospital beds in Greater Montreal. Here is a great story about it.
Jeanine*: 95 years old, crippled from atherosclerosis for many years. Stayed at home in RPA until a month ago. Slow descent into hell spread over many years.
To end up with a daily life that boils down to going from the chair to the toilet using a walker, punctuated by taking ever stronger medication.
This summer 2022, suffering, weakening, weight loss and falls. The last having led her to the hospital.
Jeanine has been asking for medical aid in dying since this practice became available. She has always hit a wall. This time, his request is heard and after the evaluation of two doctors, he was finally granted.
At 95, in her condition, what quality of life can she expect?
Jeanine, not being considered to be terminally ill, will by law have to wait three months before receiving medical assistance in dying.
Three more months of suffering…
Physical, of course, but also moral. Jeanine can no longer return to live in her apartment in RPA, but will no longer be able to stay in the hospital in geriatrics. We have to free up beds.
What awaits him?
The CHSLD or an “intermediate resource”.
This search for a place of transition mobilizes the staff of social workers from the hospital, but also from the CIUSSS of his home borough. In other words: we do therapeutic and costly relentlessness. Why drag her from one place to another to bring her back to the hospital in order to receive this assistance in dying which would free her at 95, at the end of a full life?
It’s called dying with dignity…
It is more like dying when medicine, the logic of managers and the law decide.
Welcome to Absurdistan!
*The patient’s name has been changed to preserve her anonymity.