Roger Foley has served more than 9 years in hospital care. He deserves to be sent home with self directed care.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Roger Foley lives at the LHSC

Last week, a friend and I visited Roger Foley, who is living at the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) for more than 9 years. Roger lives with cerebellar ataxia, a degenerative neurological condition.

Living in a hospital means that Roger lives in a small room without the freedom to control his environment. To make matters worse, the hospital staff have asked him, on several occasions, about MAiD and they have regularly broached the topic of suicide.

Roger, who I have been communicating with for several years, does not want to live in the hospital. Roger has served his time and deserves to be sent home. The catch is that based on his disability he needs significant care.

Roger proposed, from the beginning, that he be sent home with self-directed care, meaning that Roger would hire the care team to provide for his needs. Self-directed care is a program that exists in Ontario, but Roger has been denied access to the program.

Roger was offered care that would be provided through a "care agency". In the past when Roger's care was provided by a care agency he was not in control of his care team which resulted in several horrific experiences including food poisoning and a care giver falling to sleep while he was in the bath, to name a few. Remember, he can't get out of the bath without assistance.

Further to that, when you do the math, self-directed care is the least expensive and preferable option for care.

The hospital is an incredibly expensive place to care for Roger and he does not want to be there. "Care agencies" bill the government for the cost of the care and the costs associated with the agency.

Self-directed care, whereby Roger would hire his own care team, is the least expensive and the preferable option since most of the cost is limited to the cost of the care team.

It is time to release Roger from the confinement of the hospital room and send him home with self-directed care. Roger has already created a proposed model of care that outlines the requirements of his team and the cost associated with his care.

Roger deserves to be sent home and be approved for self-directed care.

Previous articles about Roger Foley: 

• UN disability envoy demands protection for people with disabilities from euthanasia in Canada (Link).
• People with disabilities oppose expansion of MAiD in Canada (Link).
• Canada is getting comfortable with killing people with disabilities (Link).