Monday, January 6, 2025

On two occasions MAiD was suggested to Jim. Jim remains alive.

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Liz and Jim

My husband (for the sake of privacy I’ll call him Jim) has Secondary Progressive MS that has progressed to the stage where he uses a power chair. In 2021 he used a manual chair part of the time and the power chair part of the time, especially outside the house. Jim caught Covid from me in the spring of 2021. The virus was so bad that it triggered his MS to be so severe that he couldn’t even help me to transfer him from his chair to bed or toilet. He was having trouble breathing and I called 911. When the paramedics came they thought he also had a stroke. I told them that’s how his MS affects his body but they still proceeded as though he had a possible stroke. He was admitted to the hospital and they confirmed Covid with pneumonia. No stroke.

After about one week in the hospital he choked on his breakfast resulting in aspiration pneumonia. I was not allowed to go to the hospital to see him, and I didn’t know that at some point they stopped giving his oral medications along with food. He only got food though an NG tube. They were worried that he’d choke and aspirate again, even though there were other options, such as giving the medication with apple sauce. Then one week after that I got a call from the Doctor saying he thinks Jim might not last the night, and I should come in to see him. So our kids and I went to visit him that day. We had to put on all the PPE first. The Doctor decided to give him medication to make our visit more comfortable for him and it actually helped him get better. Well enough until the pneumonia was gone.

The Doctors still thought he wasn’t going to make it and they put him in Palliative Care. On two occasions while there, MAiD was suggested to him as an option. He was anxious thinking about it; stressed and he was divided. He thought he was going to be a burden on me and others and he didn’t want MAiD; we had already written letters in opposition to euthanasia and Bill C7 to MP’s and others (me writing with his input).

Jim, who was apparently going to die the spring of 2021, is still here
. He even had Covid a second time. The first time he was in the hospital more than 3 months and was in bed so much that his muscles atrophied making his disability more severe. Since then he uses his power chair full time, needs a hospital bed and can’t help us transfer him like he used to. He did not return to baseline as they say in the world of rehabilitation, but he does eat and swallow again, after exercises and tips from a Speech Therapist. About a year later he caught Covid again and went to a different hospital in Calgary. Jim told the doctor to call me when she started asking questions about what he wants. MS affects his ability to understand information, process it and to make decisions. Apparently they didn’t see that at the first hospital as it affected his cognitive abilities.

After the second time with Covid he was ready to come home after about one week. I was still sick with Covid myself, or he would have come home after about a week and receiving an antiviral medication. I think it was Remdesivir. There was a huge difference between 3 months to get better, the first time and one week. Jim almost returned to baseline.

The first hospital saw a man in a wheelchair, with significant effects from MS who caught Covid and they thought he wasn’t going to make it. I’m not sure but maybe they thought he wouldn’t want to live that way, or that his life had little value. They also confused a statement he made that he wanted to see heaven. That didn’t mean he wanted to see heaven right then, by dying by MAiD. We believe he will die when it’s his time to go. There is a recording of him saying he doesn’t want MAiD. I had to assure him that he’s not a burden. It is hard sometimes, I won’t minimize that but it is possible. Having help from friends, family, home care, caregivers, other professionals, and AADL really helps.


Honestly, I struggle with resentment for that first hospital and we don’t want him to go back there ever. It was a horrible experience. They even gave him a level of care (C 1 or C 2) that wasn’t right. Now it’s M 1. They had so many opportunities to see that maybe he would make it, and maybe his life was still worth living. It was harder for Jim because I couldn’t go there at first. 

People who are vulnerable should never be offered MAiD or suggested in any way as an option. It only increased Jim’s anxiety and stress, which makes MS worse. That first hospital could have tried to continue getting Jim his medications or give him something else to provide the same effects to help his MS and his depression (he has always taken antidepressants since early adulthood), they could have avoided suggesting MAiD, and they could have considered that maybe he could eat once his Covid pneumonia was better.

Jim’s life is worth living even with a severe disability, more severe than the first time he had Covid. Please reject MAiD for people with disabilities and mental illness. Jim had struggles with depression and had a mental breakdown when he was more able, and he got intervention at three hospitals over the years. MAiD for mental illness and depression is the opposite of suicide prevention and mental health help. Mental health therapy and medication is necessary and helpful. I have met many people over the years with mental health issues, and my life would be less if I had never met them. Medications and counselling can and do help; Jim doesn’t get depressed anymore as long as he’s taking medication and getting support, even with his health getting a little worse, as MS is still a degenerative condition.

I’ve seen people improve with rehabilitation after a head injury and being in a coma for a year as well. Those people and Jim still have enjoyment in life, still laugh and enjoy time with their families until they die naturally. Don’t allow the government or doctors or any other official to pressure anyone saying when their life should end. Everyone’s life has purpose, and they need to know that. They need help to live, not help to die. AADL for example, stands for Alberta Aids to Daily LIVING. Let’s let people live and live their best, whatever and however that is.

I see stories over and over from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of people who were depressed and had a medical condition that won’t cause death, requesting MAiD, and getting it, often despite the protest from family. Or maybe they’re feeling pressured into it because they can’t get the right services, or many other reasons. It’s tragic and heartbreaking. In Alberta we have great supports even though some of the supports could be improved, like AISH, but there’s also the RAMP program and AADL, that really help people. With AHS we also have daily help so I’m not doing all Jim’s care alone. And I can regularly go visit with friends, run errands and go to appointments for myself without being concerned about him.

Thank you for your time and attention to my story about Jim.

Liz Salomons

More stories:

  • The Gatekeeper (Link).
  • Assisted death. Whose is the decision (Link).
  • Doreen Blake's story (Link).

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