{"id":3039,"date":"2018-09-28T17:32:07","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T17:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=3039"},"modified":"2018-10-23T14:34:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T14:34:51","slug":"webcast-archive-long-term-care-in-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/09\/webcast-archive-long-term-care-in-quebec\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: Long-term care in Quebec"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qn4PmT5IChY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this episode of\u00a0<em>Euthanasia &amp; Disability<\/em>, Amy Hasbrouck and Christian Debray discuss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Residents take action over appalling conditions in long-term care in Quebec<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please note that this text is only a script and that our webcast contains additional commentary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RESIDENTS TAKE ACTION OVER APPALLING CONDITIONS IN LONG-TERM CARE IN QUEBEC<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We\u2019ve often talked about how residential care is not the best option for many people with disabilities.\u00a0 The loss of control over one\u2019s life, the lack of privacy, the inability to pursue careers and education, the rigid and bizarre schedules, and living with people of another generation all reduce disabled people\u2019s quality of life.\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.journaldemontreal.com\/2017\/03\/18\/elle-fetera-ses-34-ans-dans-une-residence-pour-aines\">For example, one woman in Rivi\u00e8re-du-Loup<\/a>\u00a0celebrated her 34th birthday among neighbours twice her age and away from her family after being moved four times in one year.<\/li>\n<li>Which is why we believe that self-directed personal assistance services must be available for those who prefer to live in their own homes in the community.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a perfect solution; managing a staff of attendants isn\u2019t easy, it can be hard to find dependable assistants, and abuse does happen.\u00a0 But the staffing ratio and the person\u2019s ability to control how their money is spent improves the chances of a good outcome.<\/li>\n<li>Many people who follow disability issues, or who have elderly relatives, are aware of the numerous problems in nursing homes. In 2017, the following incidents made the news.\n<ul>\n<li>There were 42 confirmed cases of abuse and neglect in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/abuse-found-long-term-care-homes-investigations-1.4833147\">Nova Scotia<\/a>\u00a0in 2017.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/ottawa\/peter-d-clark-long-term-care-abuse-city-facility-1.4312683\">Verbal abuse<\/a>\u00a0directed towards seniors was reported at a city-run facility in Ottawa.<\/li>\n<li>A man with dementia was repeatedly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/radio\/asithappens\/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.4189447\/ottawa-man-captures-gut-wrenching-footage-of-care-worker-punching-his-grandfather-in-the-head-1.4189448\">punched in the face<\/a>\u00a0by a staff member at another home in the capital.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>News outlets in Qu\u00e9bec have reported a growing number of incidents caused by poor hygiene and inadequate staffing in long-term care facilities (des centres d\u2019h\u00e9bergement de soins de longue dur\u00e9e or CHSLD).\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.journaldemontreal.com\/2017\/01\/31\/des-aines-nont-pas-recu-de-bain-pendant-des-annees-dans-un-chsld-de-la-gaspesie\">One nursing home in Gasp\u00e9sie<\/a>\u00a0did not provide residents full baths (only sponge baths) for\u00a0<strong>several years<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.journaldemontreal.com\/2017\/03\/03\/manque-de-personnel-un-octogenaire-est-force-de-rester-cloue-dans-son-lit-toute-une-journee\">A man in Sherbrooke<\/a>\u00a0was left in bed because there were not enough staff to help him, even to get to the toilet. He was forced to soil himself, and sit in his feces for a whole day.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.journaldemontreal.com\/2018\/02\/22\/des-aines-prives-de-repas-et-de-bains-dans-un-chsld-de-laval\">Residents of a Laval nursing home<\/a>\u00a0went without meals and baths, while the staff person who reported the problem was disciplined.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>One Qu\u00e9bec advocate, Daniel Pilote, is fighting for reparations. At age 56, he\u2019s a \u201cyounger\u201d resident of a nursing home in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Mr. Pilote has lived in long-term care for four years because he doesn\u2019t qualify for self-directed home-based attendant services. He compares the facility to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.journaldemontreal.com\/2017\/05\/20\/les-chsld-vus-par-ceux-qui-y-vivent-et-qui-y-travaillent\">living in a prison<\/a>\u00a0without being guilty of a crime.<\/li>\n<li>Each morning he is helped to wash, dress, and get into his chair in about 10 minutes. Rushing through these essential everyday tasks can cause dangerous and painful errors.\u00a0 His tracheotomy is sometimes not cleaned properly, which makes it harder to breathe and saps him of energy.\u00a0 As well, he is sometimes injured when attendants move him roughly.<\/li>\n<li>If you go to his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/daniel.pilote\">Facebook page<\/a>, you can see photos of the unappetizing food that residents are served. At times, the humiliation, depression, and abuse Mr. Pilote has faced\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ledevoir.com\/societe\/sante\/532073\/quebec-poursuivi-pour-maltraitance-au-nom-de-residents-dans-les-chsld\">has even &#8220;affected his desire to live.&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Mr. Pilote has used social media to contact residents of other CHSLDs about conditions elsewhere in Qu\u00e9bec. \u00a0He is now working with the Conseil pour la protection des malades (CPM) to obtain compensation on behalf of residents of long-term care facilities where conditions are so \u201cinappropriate, insufficient and deficient\u201d as to &#8220;constitute an infringement of the rights protected by sections 1 and 4 of the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, \u2026 section 10 of the Civil Code of Qu\u00e9bec and the Act to combat abuse of elders and all other vulnerable adults.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Mr. Pilote is the named representative plaintiff, along with the CPM, in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/montrealgazette.com\/news\/local-news\/nursing-home-class-action-gathers-steam-as-more-than-100-patients-come-forward\">a class action lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0filed in July against Quebec\u2019s regional health and social services agencies. The plaintiffs represent approximately 37,000 residents of nursing homes across the province. The text of the complaint is available\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.larochelleavocats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/chsld-20180706-demande-autorisation.pdf\">online<\/a>\u00a0(in French).<\/li>\n<li>The lawsuit claims the province is violating the plaintiffs statutory and charter rights by not meeting basic standards of staffing and hygiene, not delivering services required by law, and making it necessary for residents to pay \u201cunder the table\u201d for needed services.\u00a0 Challenged practices include:\n<ul>\n<li>Only providing one bath per week;<\/li>\n<li>Not helping people get to the toilet, thereby forcing them to use diapers;<\/li>\n<li>Not changing adult diapers often enough;<\/li>\n<li>Not providing adequate dental hygiene and care;<\/li>\n<li>Inadequate health care;<\/li>\n<li>Failing to administer medications as prescribed;<\/li>\n<li>Using antipsychotic drugs to restrain and sedate residents;<\/li>\n<li>Excessive use of physical restraints;<\/li>\n<li>Lack of physical, intellectual and social stimulation;<\/li>\n<li>Serving meals that are not appetizing or nutritious;<\/li>\n<li>Not taking enough time to feed people who have trouble eating;<\/li>\n<li>Charging for goods and services that are supposed to be included, such as:\n<ul>\n<li>laundry services;<\/li>\n<li>baths or changing diapers;<\/li>\n<li>soap, shampoo and toothpaste;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Leaving combative residents unsupervised, thus exposing other residents to violence; and<\/li>\n<li>Not respecting residents\u2019 right to sleep by waking them in the night to perform housekeeping or personal care tasks;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>If the suit is successful, people living in long-term care centres across the province would share a payment of $500 million in damages, the amount depending on how long they\u2019ve been in the facility and what they\u2019ve spent on goods and services.\u00a0 However the lawsuit does not explicitly seek to correct the problems, nor does it recommend increasing access to home-based services.<\/li>\n<li>The complaint comes five years after the settlement of the class action lawsuit against the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/multi-million-dollar-settlement-for-victims-of-patient-abuse-1.1347833\">St-Charles Borrom\u00e9e residence<\/a>\u00a0over complaints of neglect and abuse.\u00a0 That case, filed in 1999,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/collectiva.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CHSLD-EntentedereglementR.pdf\">settled out of court<\/a>\u00a0after 13 years, for more than $7 million, which was divided among 600 residents.<\/li>\n<li>Conditions in the CHSLDs have become\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/4426794\/quebec-parties-promise-more-spending-for-seniors-care\/\">a major issue in Quebec\u2019s provincial election<\/a>, coming up on October 1. The Liberals have proposed to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ledevoir.com\/politique\/quebec\/536259\/le-plq-veut-creer-1500-nouvelles-places-en-chsld-d-ici-2022\">create 1500 new long-term care beds<\/a>\u00a0(of which 500 would be reserved for people under 65 years old) and to attract more staff by raising salaries.\u00a0 Parti Quebecois leader Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lis\u00e9e has promised\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/quebec.huffingtonpost.ca\/2018\/09\/05\/chsld-promesses-parti-quebecois_a_23518190\/\">$200 million in renovations to CHSLDs<\/a>, including air conditioning in all facilities, and to \u201cimprove\u201d the ratio of staff to residents.<\/li>\n<li>Fran\u00e7ois Legault, leader of the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ), has vowed to replace CHSLDs with smaller \u201cSeniors homes\u201d featuring air-conditioned rooms. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/montrealgazette.com\/news\/quebec-elections-caq-would-replace-dreaded-chslds-with-senior-homes\">Legault said<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cThe state has a responsibility to house our seniors and we need a new direction. We must do it in a humane way. We owe it to our elders who built Quebec.\u201d And while Legault hinted at support for home care, (\u201cRight now a person who goes into a CHSLD costs $86,000 per year. Between\u00a0$86,000 and zero, there must be a way of helping caregivers help people stay in their homes.\u201d) he also supports extending euthanasia to people with dementia.<\/li>\n<li>Being unable to control one\u2019s life \u2013 at the mercy of institutions, their staff and policies \u2013 can cause suicidal despair among elders and people with disabilities. The introduction of assisted suicide and euthanasia makes these situations even more risky, because residents will now have the\u00a0<strong>means<\/strong>, and society\u2019s blessing, to end their lives. Providing self-directed care will not just improve the lives of people with disabilities \u2013 it can save them too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nA webcast on: abuse and other problems in Quebec long-term care homes, including Daniel Pilote&#8217;s lawsuit.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/09\/webcast-archive-long-term-care-in-quebec\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: Long-term care in Quebec&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/09\/webcast-archive-long-term-care-in-quebec\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: Long-term care in Quebec&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[177,175,174,121,176,173,101,118],"class_list":["post-3039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-abuse","tag-chsld","tag-daniel-pilote","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-lawsuit","tag-long-term-care","tag-suicide","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3039"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3358,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3039\/revisions\/3358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}