Winnipeg man (Ron Siwicki) sentenced to three months in horrific elder abuse case.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Ron Siwicki (left)
Elizabeth Siwicki (right)

Ron Siwicki, the Winnipeg man who left his mother to die over 3 weeks, was sentenced to three months in jail, after pleading guilty to negligence causing death last January.

This is a horrific case of elder abuse neglect. It was also a story that euthanasia activists used to promote euthanasia in Canada.

• The Siwicki case does not highlight the euthanasia debate.

According to a July 10 CBC News report by Erin Brohman Elizabeth Siwicki, who died in December 2014, was living with dementia. The report states:

She fell out of bed in November 2014 and couldn't get up. 

Siwicki, who was her caregiver, cried as he said his mother did not want to go to a hospital. 

She was left in the spot where she had fallen for more than three weeks, covered in her own excrement. 

She died of sepsis after the bed sores covering her body from the prolonged immobility became infected. An autopsy found that the bed sores were so severe, they went down to her bones. 

Siwicki said he tried to care for his mother after her fall by giving her nutritional supplement drinks and water. He waited until his mother died before he tried to clean her or call an ambulance. 

There was so much human waste around her that the carpet underneath had buckled, court was told.

Siwicki claimed that he was following the wishes of his mother but based on the statement of facts, it seems very hard to believe him.

This is a tragic case of elder abuse. Even if his mother refused to go to the hospital leaving her for three weeks to lay in her own excrement is inhumane. 

The fact that a euthanasia activist used this case to promote euthanasia, shows the mentality of those who push death upon our culture rather than recognizing how Elizabeth Siwicki was neglected and abused.

Siwicki pleads guilty to criminal negligence causing the death of his mother.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Ron Siwicki pled guilty, in a Winnipeg court on January 22, to criminal negligence causing the death of his mother, Betty, in December 2014. Ron Siwicki left his mother to die on the floor after falling from her bed.

I am writing this article because this case was a horrific case of elder abuse neglect but it was also a story that euthanasia activists used to promote the legalization of euthanasia.

• Schadenberg: The Siwicki case does not highlight the euthanasia debate.

Hugh Scher

Hugh Scher, legal counsel for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, also responded to the Siwicki case. Scher said that debates around end-of-life care are nothing new but the Siwicki case was particularly disturbing.

“I was surprised and horrified at the notion that this is how we’re going to treat our seniors; this is how we’re going to treat those who are vulnerable and in our care, to simply leave them to die on the floor with only the most basic of food and water, and without any basic pain and symptom management,” he says. “This is a very concerning proposition as it’s clearly contrary to basic human rights obligations and to basic care obligations that we all owe as citizens and as people of this country, particularly those who are in positions of trust and authority relative to their loved ones or are healthcare providers.”

“It’s really disrespecting – to a greater extent than before – human beings and human life in a manner that really does put people who are vulnerable and in the care of others at risk. There must be exceptional efforts taken, I think, to ensure that neglect and abuse are avoided," says Scher.

Scher stated that:

“We have historically believed that the third-party killing of people is wrong.”

Sadly, now that euthanasia is legal in Canada, new pressures are being placed upon people, such as Candice Lewis, to die by euthanasia.

• Candice Lewis was pressured to die by assisted death.

Senior's death on floor of her home raises questions around care

This article was first published in Advocate Daily.

The case of a Winnipeg man accused of leaving his fallen, elderly mother on the floor of her home where she then died is a “horrifying” example of why a process is needed to ensure all Canadian seniors have proper care, says Toronto health and human rights lawyer Hugh Scher.

Ron Siwicki, 62, was arrested Dec. 17 and charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life after the death of his 89-year-old mother, CBC reports.

Siwicki's lawyers have said the woman did not want to continue her life, and did not want her son to call for help. Siwicki covered her with a blanket on the floor and fed her nutritional drinks and water until she died, says the report.

“We really need to take steps to ensure that seniors are not effectively left in situations where they are ultimately deprived of the basic necessities of life and neglected,” Scher tells CBC News. Listen to Scher on the World at Six (Item begins at 13:09). As counsel to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and past chair of human rights for the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, Scher has been involved in several precedent end-of-life cases and notes that this should never have been one.

In an interview with AdvocateDaily.com, Scher says the case raises questions around end-of-life wishes and care.

“How far can this really go?” he says. “Does it go to the point where we can just allow senior citizens to be left to lay and die on their floors at home after they’ve fallen? Or are we to take appropriate care to ensure there is dignified living and dignified death?”

While debates around end-of-life care are nothing new, Scher says the Siwicki case is particularly disturbing.

“I was surprised and horrified at the notion that this is how we’re going to treat our seniors; this is how we’re going to treat those who are vulnerable and in our care, to simply leave them to die on the floor with only the most basic of food and water, and without any basic pain and symptom management,” he says. “This is a very concerning proposition as it’s clearly contrary to basic human rights obligations and to basic care obligations that we all owe as citizens and as people of this country, particularly those who are in positions of trust and authority relative to their loved ones or are healthcare providers.”

Scher tells AdvocateDaily.com that steps need to be taken to ensure “we don’t neglect or abuse people, that people are not left to simply rot to death and that we do not effectively deprive people of the necessities of life both contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada and our most basic legal and moral obligations as Canadians.”

A cultural shift, says Scher, has contributed to society’s changing views on assisted suicide.

“It’s really disrespecting – to a greater extent than before – human beings and human life in a manner that really does put people who are vulnerable and in the care of others at risk. There must be exceptional efforts taken, I think, to ensure that neglect and abuse are avoided," says Scher.

Scher links this societal shift to the decline of fundamental social institutions like family, religion and medicine.

“We have historically believed that the third-party killing of people is wrong,” says Scher.

“The changing attitude in this area reflects a clear breakdown in some of our most basic social institutions, be they family, be they the medical supports that people have earned the right to depend on, or be they the religious and other moral pillars that have historically served as the basis both for our laws and behaviour in society."

• The Siwicki case in Winnipeg does not highlight the euthanasia debate.

The Siwicki case in Winnipeg does not highlight the euthanasia debate.

Alex Schadenberg

By Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

On December 17, 2014, Ron Siwicki was arrested and charged in the death of his mother, Betty Siwicki (89) who was living with dementia. Ron Siwicki was charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life.

An article by Thomas Wolkam falsely compared this case to the euthanasia debate in Canada.

Due to a publication ban, the information around the case is not clear but the basic story suggests that Betty Siwicki was injured, after a fall, sometime in November. Since she did not want medical treatment she was left, dying on the floor, for a period of time until she died, in the home that she shared with her son. 

Ron Siwicki claims that he fulfilled his mother's wishes.

This case does not hightlight the euthanasia debate in Canada but rather it highlights the issues concerning the obligation to provide basic personal care and the basic necessaries of life.

Every Canadian has the right to refuse medical treatment. If Betty Siwicki was competent to refuse medical treatment, her wishes would have been honoured. In this case, Betty Siwicki was left on the floor of her home to die.

The law does not permit Canadians to neglect or abandon their elderly parents or their children by denying them basic personal care or the basic necessaries of life.

The euthanasia debate is not about whether people should have the right to die with a minimal pain, as the article falsely states. Nobody is arguing that effective pain and symptom management should be denied to anyone.

The euthanasia debate is about whether doctors should have the right to lethally inject people. Currently, no one has the right in law to cause death, or be involved with causing the death of another person.