When my mother's health began to seriously decline in 2019 she was prescribed a strong narcotic to help her with depression and insomnia. She was living independently in her condo but I moved into her building to assist her so she could maintain her independence and dignity. She was prescribed a medication with strict dosage instructions and I monitored the dosage. She wanted more but I said she had to wait for morning. When I brought her breakfast, the next morning, she was very confused and didn't know who I was so I called an ambulance. Her pill bottle had been hidden but she found it and 6 pills were missing. She recovered but she told a psychiatrist at the hospital, when I wasn't around, that she wanted to die. The psychiatrist made me aware of her wishes, I said,
"Over my dead body. My mother wants to die but she does not want to be killed!"By the grace of God, my Mom had signed a copy of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Life-Protecting Power of Attorney for Personal Care. I had a copy of it and gave it to the nurses at the nursing station when she was admitted and it was HANDS OFF from then on. The Psychiatrist never approached me again. Mom came home from the hospital and I had help with Palliative Care nurses and PSW's. My Mom actually went bowling on her birthday. She passed 6 months later at home but a miracle happened one afternoon.A nurse asked me to come into my mom's bedroom because she was dying. There was also a PSW present. I went to her room and thought, it's not her time yet. Sure enough, the phone rang in the silence and my Mom jumped up to answer the phone. The PSW screamed, I laughed and we answered the phone for Mom. It was my niece, her grand daughter, who wanted to see her. The next day my niece came to visit, climbed into bed with her and they had a pyjama party. My Mom died the next day in her own bed on her won terms, not their terms.
EPC sells the Life Protecting Power of Attorney for Personal Care for $10 + taxes. Order the Life Protecting Power of Attorney (through our website) or by calling: 1-877-439-3348 or info@epcc.ca
The Life Protecting Power of Attorney ensures that your power of attorney will have the power to uphold values, it protects you from euthanasia and assisted suicide and it defines the treatment decisions that you would want and how those decisions are to be made.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has versions for different provinces and for all 50 states.
I see the typo at the end of the story. But it fits. She won!
ReplyDeleteAn ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure... so said my Grandma.
ReplyDeleteAs for the typo, I published her letter as is.
ReplyDeleteI was in the same situation, but failed my Mother. I held her by the hand and wrist and felt the poison stop her heart. That day Satan opened my eyes to God's truth. Malice and summum bonum. I went to church for the first time in my life. Jesus is my only hope.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the story, Alex - and thank you for your wonderful, meaningful work❤️!
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible story of hope and love. Thank you for these resources!
ReplyDeleteThank
ReplyDeleteThank you Alex for being so faithful in the fight against MAID ( murder/suiside).
ReplyDeleteAs my mother aged into her 90's, I prepared for what might happen if she were hospitalized. I filled out a "Will To Live" from the National Right to Life and had it notarized, filed at the Hospital, and also at the Court House downtown. Eventually, She went in to the hospital just for constipation. They said she couldn't have anything by mouth because they were going to do a "procedure" the following day. Every day it was the same story for over a week but they said she was getting all she needed through the IV in her arm until I noticed that the level never changed, investigated, and followed the tubing and found that it was unplugged on the floor behind her bed. Long story -- but this was a fight with the medical staff and the family who had been told that it would only "harm her" if she were given nutrition. In the end she died and the documents at the courthouse and filed at the hospital didn't mean a thing to them.
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