Terminally ill Ontario man is denied the care that he needs to live.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I have published previous articles (1) (2) (3) (4) about how denying the care that terminally ill people need and the effort to make euthanasia or assisted suicide (MAiD) more available.

For instance, Ontario doctors who oppose euthanasia have been ordered to do an effective referral for euthanasia. Effective referral is defined as referral for the purpose of the act. This means that a physician who opposes killing must send his patient to a physician who will kill.
 
Recently the Delta BC Hospice Society that are refusing to do euthanasia have been ordered by the Minister of Health to do MAiD or lose their funding.

Sign the petition: Hospice Organizations Must NOT be Forced to do Euthanasia (Link).

Mark Doner

An article by Bill Hodgins for MyKawartha.com reports that Mark Doner, who is living with terminal cancer, was informed that the personal support worker hours that he receives are being cut. Hodgins explains:

Doner is dying of cancer. The 58-year-old Peterborough man says since he was diagnosed in 2017, it has spread from his colon and small intestine to his liver. He’s outlived the time his doctors gave him and he’s not going to get any better.

Doner lives alone in a highrise apartment in Peterborough, and currently gets assistance from personal support workers (PSW) six days out of the week. Every second day, he gets two hours of help. It’s one hour on alternate days. Nurses visit about every three days.

Earlier this month, he says a co-ordinator from the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) dropped by, asked him some questions, then informed him his personal support worker care hours would be cut to just one hour on the days where he was getting two hours of care.

“I just don’t get it,” says the former resort chef. “I’ve had operations. I’m in pain. I have some good days but even my girls (the PSWs) say I should be asking for more care.”

Do support worker cut-backs lead to elder abuse? Hodgins quotes Jennifer Brown, a long-term care advocate in Ontario.

“How is cutting the weekly hours of personal support workers in Ontario LTC (long-term care) homes combating elder abuse?

“How does sowing anxiety and fear about their own job security among the uncut personal support workers, that results in increased sick days and heavier workloads for those who do come to work, combat elder abuse?”

The article does not suggest that Doner is being pressured to euthanasia. Whether the Ministry of Health wants people, like Doner, to ask for euthanasia or euthanasia is an "accidental" outcome of their policy, the fact is that he is being denied the care that he needs and euthanasia is being pushed.

The Health Minister should know that people, like Doner, who live in their private residence cost the government less money than those living in assisted living or a hospital. If the government does not provide enough home care support he may eventually be forced to move into assisted living which will cost the government a lot more money.

At the same time, the number of seniors waiting for long-term care placements is at a record high.

This is not a conservative vs liberal ideological debate - home care is less expensive and more dignified.

Denying people the home care that they need is dangerous and promotes euthanasia (MAiD).