Tuesday, June 14, 2022

BC Woman approved for euthanasia can't access health care

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A report by Penny Daflos for CTV News Vancouver concerns a chronically ill woman in her 30s who is approved for MAiD yet is unable to obtain the medical treatment that she needs to live. "Kat" wants to live. 

Kat had an easier time accessing death care than accessing health care. Daflos reports:
The chronically ill woman is in her late 30s and lives in the Lower Mainland, but given the sensitivity of the subject matter has asked us to refer to her by the pseudonym of “Kat.” She has applied to Fraser Health and been granted a request for MAID – even though she wants to live.

“I thought, ‘Goodness, I feel like I'm falling through the cracks so if I'm not able to access health care am I then able to access death care?' And that’s what led me to look into MAID and I applied last year...”
Kat has been struggling to access health care:
A decade ago she received a diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a genetic disorder where the body doesn’t produce adequate collagen, essentially the glue that holds together connective tissues, skin and our internal organs, sometimes leading to complications and always resulting in significant pain.

As a result, Kat has been on opioids for years and says that’s interfered with finding a replacement for her family doctor, who moved away years ago. She’s been seeing nurse practitioners for several years, as well as a revolving door of rheumatologists, neurologists, psychiatrists and other specialist doctors, none of whom are experts in EDS.
Fraser Health, the health authority that defunded the Delta Hospice Society and expropriated their buildings for refusing to participate in euthanasia, approved MAiD for Kat but is not working to obtain the medical care that she needs. Danlos reported:
Fraser Health’s MAID documentation includes a summary noting that the “patient has an extensive medical chart” and that “there were no other treatment recommendations or interventions that were suitable to the patient’s needs or to her financial constraints.”
Kat was approved for euthanasia because the medical system is not providing her the care that she needs. Kat is not wealthy enough to personally pay for the care that she needs.

In 2019, Alan Nichols died by euthanasia in Chilliwack BC. Nichols, who was not dying, was deeply depressed. His family begged the doctors to re-assess Alan based on the fact that Alan had been living with chronic depression, but they refused (Link).

Donna Duncan, from Abbotsford BC, died by euthanasia in October 2021. Donna was not terminally ill. In February 2020, Donna was injured in a car accident and had post-concussion syndrome. Due to the COVID protocols, Donna did not receive adequate rehabilitation and her symptoms persisted until she decided to seek out death by euthanasia.

9 comments:

Tan said...

It is a death cult. Not health.

Brenda L said...

God have mercy on us all. This is shameful. My sister has cancer and has said if her treatments don't work and she becomes an invalid, she will apply for euthenasia........this is sickening.
God alone should have the keys to life and death. Who are we as creation to think we know better than our Creator?
Dear Father, please help us as Christians to show others that they are loved so they will not choose this outlet of death.
Amen

Jackie Gomes said...

I agree. We are living in a culture of death and our governments are promoting it as part of health care. It has nothing to do with health care. Killing is not caring. We will pay dearly for this. We all need to pray for God's mercy.

Jackie Gomes said...

We need to pray for God's mercy and an end to killing of human beings by euthanasia and abortion. We live in a world of relativism where truth is what you want it to be and not the real God given truth. Here in Canada the government abolished capital punishment but have re-instituted it in euthanasia and abortion. Humanity will pay dearly for this. PRAY PRAY PRAY🙏

Anonymous said...

As a 40 year old disabled lady who should have Been aborted before birth. And now living in constant pain both mentally and physically, euthanasia would be a god send. To end my life of suffering from illnesses I was born with and where there is no treatment. Euthanasia should be a patients choice, not everyone wants to live forever.

Alex Schadenberg said...

Dear Anonymous:

Your life is important.
No human life should be seen as not worth living.
The problem with euthanasia, is as you state, not everyone wants to live, that means that doctors and nurse practitioners who agree that your life is not worth living have the legal right to kill you.

Giving someone the legal right to kill another person is bad public policy since the killer (accurate term) is essentially ending your life based on a discriminatory policy. Further to that, it becomes easier to deny you the care that you need which would push you towards death, than provide the care that you need, which would lead you towards life.

Deb P. said...

What right do any of us have to end a life that God created? The focus should be on health care but.... it's more expensive to help a person live than to kill them!!!

Giving anyone the permission to kill another human being is wrong and forcing doctors to do it is wrong on so many levels! FIRST DO NO HARM

Deb P. said...

I have suffered from severe chronic clinical depression for over 50 years now, there were times in my life that if I had been offered MAID I may have chosen it BUT I would have missed the best years of my life!

Focus should be on HEALTH not death! Every person is created unique and has a purpose on this earth for the whole time they live. EVERY person is important and should be cared for and allowed to live and not go broke trying to do so.

Annette Murphy said...

I agree. Prayer is the only thing.