{"id":4711,"date":"2020-01-31T17:15:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T17:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=4711"},"modified":"2020-01-31T17:15:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T17:15:24","slug":"webcast-archive-no-free-choice-to-die-archie-rollands-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/01\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-to-die-archie-rollands-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: No free choice to die &#8211; Archie Rolland&#8217;s story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1-rrUjsHwwY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"fluid-width-video-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<p>In this episode of\u00a0<em>Euthanasia &amp; Disability<\/em>, Amy Hasbrouck, Christian Debray, and Taylor Hyatt discuss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No free choice to die: Archie Rolland<\/li>\n<li>Medical errors<\/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>NO FREE CHOICE TO DIE: ARCHIE ROLLAND<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>Since last summer, TVNDY has been gathering stories of people who have been caught in the gears of the medical aid in dying (MAiD) machinery. Most were people who asked to die, but really needed help to live. Many were euthanized, or had life-sustaining care withdrawn or withheld, or simply pled their case via the media in the court of public opinion.<\/li>\n<li>Over the next few months, we\u2019re going to tell these stories of how and why the system has failed people who needed help to live, not to die, in preparation for the five-year review of the MAiD law that is supposed to begin this summer.<\/li>\n<li>Archie Rolland was a landscape architect who lived with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis for 15 years.\u00a0 From 2007 to 2015 he was treated at the McGill University Health Centre\u2019s Chest Institute. In 2013 he wrote an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/montrealgazette.com\/news\/local-news\/from-the-archive-opinion-patient-needs-must-come-first-in-hospital-decisions\">opinion piece<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0<em>Montr\u00e9al Gazette<\/em>\u00a0about his experience of \u201cincarceration\u201d in long-term care, and his fears about upcoming changes in his living situation.<\/li>\n<li>In January of 2015 Mr. Rolland was among 17 people, most of whom used respirators, who were transferred to Lachine Hospital\u2019s Camille-Lefebvre long-term care wing, in advance of Montreal Chest\u2019s move to the newly-built \u201csuper hospital.\u201d According to a report in the\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/montrealgazette.com\/news\/local-news\/life-in-long-term-hospital-unbearable-montreal-man-with-als\">Montreal Gazette<\/a><\/em>, \u201conly 70 per cent of the nursing staff made the transfer, and fewer than half the hospital attendants.\u201d As well, attendants were put on a rotating schedule, which disrupted continuity of care.<\/li>\n<li>According to the\u00a0<em>Gazette<\/em>, problems arose as soon as residents moved to the Lachine facility, and Mr. Rolland documented them in emails to the head nurse, the ombudsman, hospital officials and a patient\u2019s committee representative.\u00a0 He reported long delays after pressing the call button, not being provided water, poor positioning causing bed sores, and more dangerous problems. In one incident, staff failed to remove mucus from his throat, then ignored the respirator alarm until his mother ran to get help. On another occasion, attendants leaned on his bed rail, jamming the call button against his head and \u201claughed at me in my distress.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Other families also contacted the media about problems caused by staff shortages and rotating schedules, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/montrealgazette.com\/news\/doctors-quit-lachine-chronic-care-unit-slammed-by-patients-families\">multiple<\/a>\u00a0reports\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/montrealgazette.com\/news\/local-news\/move-of-first-patients-out-of-hospitals-slated-for-closure-causes-concern\">appeared<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0<em>Gazette<\/em>\u00a0detailing the problems at the Lachine facility.\u00a0 In the summer of 2016, three doctors resigned because their \u201cpleas for additional support led nowhere.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>By July of 2016, Mr. Rolland had had enough. In emails to the\u00a0<em>Gazette<\/em>\u00a0reporter he emphasized that it wasn\u2019t his illness that was killing him; he was tired and discouraged from having to fight for necessary and compassionate care.\u00a0 On July 4 he left the Lachine facility and made the 10-hour trip to the family\u2019s country home in M\u00e9tis-sur-Mer. Three days later he ordered that his respirator be turned off.<\/li>\n<li>Though transfer to another facility was mentioned as a potential solution, in none of the reports was the possibility raised that Mr. Rolland could have lived at home with attendant services. The residents of the long-term care facility (referred to as \u201cpatients\u201d rather than \u201cpeople\u201d) and were described as \u201chooked up to\u201d respirators and feeding tubes, rather than \u201cusing\u201d such equipment. Where is the choice in that?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>MEDICAL ERRORS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>A search of Google News for information about the crash of Ukraine Airlines flight 752 on January 8 yields 11,900 results. Wikipedia reports there were 63 Canadians aboard. At the same time, according to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca\/en\/toolsResources\/case-for-investing-in-patient-safety\/Pages\/default.aspx\">report<\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca\/en\/pages\/default.aspx\">Canadian Patient Safety Institute<\/a>\u00a0(CPSI), 76 Canadians die each day in Canada from falls, medical errors and infections they picked up in hospitals. The CPSI estimated that 28,000 Canadians died in 2013.<\/li>\n<li>Despite being the third leading cause of death in Canada, medical errors (a.k.a. \u201cAdverse events,\u201d a.k.a. \u201cPatient Safety Incidents\u201d) receive very little news coverage.\u00a0 A Google search found only a handful of articles in the mainstream press each year on the subject.<\/li>\n<li>Public attention was drawn to medical errors at the turn of the century with the publication of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/books\/NBK225182\/\">To Err is Human<\/a>: Building a safer Health System\u201d in November of 1999 by the U.S. Institute of Medicine\u2019s Committee on Quality of Health Care in America.\u00a0 In 2004,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC408508\/pdf\/20040525s00028p1678.pdf\">The Canadian Adverse Events Study<\/a>\u00a0found that problems occurred in 7.5% of the hospitalization records the researchers looked at; researchers found that 37% of these were preventable.\u00a0 A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca\/en\/toolsResources\/Research\/commissionedResearch\/PaediatricAdverseEvents\/Documents\/CPSI_Canadian_Paediatric_Adverse_Events_doc_March%205_2013_English_Final.pdf\">study<\/a>\u00a0of paediatric \u201cadverse events\u201d in 2013 found that more than 9% of children were harmed in Canadian hospitals.<\/li>\n<li>The Commission on end of life care in Qu\u00e9bec has consistently found a 4% non-compliance rate in the provision of euthanasia in the province, so applying the 7.5% error rate to medical aid in dying seems within reason.<\/li>\n<li>Unlike in the aviation industry, where everyone (from mechanics to flight attendants) is encouraged to report problems, mishaps in medical settings remain shrouded in secrecy.\u00a0 For this reason, it\u2019s still impossible to get accurate figures of exactly how many deaths are caused by errors, negligence, equipment failures, improperly-dispensed medications, instruments left in people\u2019s bodies, and the myriad other things that can go wrong in the health care setting.<\/li>\n<li>According to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.ca\/kathleen-finlay\/medical-error-deaths_b_8350324.html\">Kathleen Finlay<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patientprotection.healthcare\/home-page\/\">Center for Patient Protection<\/a>, people who are harmed by medical errors face almost impossible barriers when seeking compensation. In a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.ca\/kathleen-finlay\/physician-malpractice-medical-lawsuits_b_7556334.html\">2015 article<\/a>\u00a0she describes the role of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cmpa-acpm.ca\/en\/home\">Canadian Medical Protective Association<\/a>, which defends doctors who are sued over medical errors. \u201cMembership fees paid to the CMPA give physicians [liability] insurance coverage and a right to representation in medical malpractice lawsuits. However, provincial governments reimburse physicians for at least a portion of their membership fees.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>People who are harmed by medical errors also face legal rules that force the losing party to pay the winner\u2019s legal fees and limit the kind and amount of damages that can be awarded even if the plaintiff wins.<\/li>\n<li>So to sum up, if you are one of the 400,000 people each year who are harmed by a \u201cpatient safety incident,\u201d don\u2019t count on winning in court, since your taxes are helping to pay the defendant\u2019s legal team. And if an adverse event affects the diagnosis, treatment, eligibility determination or administration of medical aid in dying, you could be among the 7.5% of people who are killed due to medical error.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis week, we revisit the story of Archie Rolland and discuss the frequency of medical professionals making mistakes in their work.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/01\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-to-die-archie-rollands-story\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: No free choice to die &#8211; Archie Rolland&#8217;s story&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/01\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-to-die-archie-rollands-story\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: No free choice to die &#8211; Archie Rolland&#8217;s story&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":[673,121,674,53,118],"class_list":["post-4711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-archie-rolland","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-mcgill-university","tag-quebec-en","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711","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=4711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4712,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711\/revisions\/4712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}