{"id":4727,"date":"2020-02-14T18:17:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T18:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=4727"},"modified":"2020-03-09T22:07:10","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T22:07:10","slug":"webcast-archive-no-free-choice-to-die-bob-blackwoods-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/02\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-to-die-bob-blackwoods-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: No free choice to die \u2013 Bob Blackwood\u2019s story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8TuF5IJ8w0Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" 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>No free choice to die: Bob Blackwood<\/li>\n<li>Study of early Ontario MAiD cases doesn\u2019t allay fears<\/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: BOB BLACKWOOD<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>Bob Blackwood was euthanized in Sherbrooke, Qu\u00e9bec on August 18, 2017.\u00a0 He was first diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease in 2010, but his diagnosis was changed in 2016 to Multiple Systems Atrophy because of the rapid progression and severe symptoms he had.\u00a0 For Mr. Blackwood, MSA caused severe pain, cramping, circulation and balance problems, nausea and sleeplessness.<\/li>\n<li>After outpatient treatment was unsuccessful at managing his pain, Mr. Blackwood went into the hospital for palliative care In July of 2017.\u00a0 The medical team got his pain under control so he could sleep, but the medications also suppressed his breathing, so the doctors cut the dosage. The return of pain and sleep deprivation, described in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/eastern-townships-assisted-dying-1.4822787\">CBC article<\/a>\u00a0as \u201ctorture,\u201d lead Mr. Blackwood to consider suicide. Or, as the CBC put it: \u201cWith the palliative care no longer providing relief from his suffering, Blackwood applied for a medically assisted death.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>His application under Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s euthanasia law was denied because the second doctor didn\u2019t believe he was at the \u201cend of life.\u201d Mr. Blackwood\u2019s wife, Heather Ross, had problems in advocating on his behalf, because of summer vacation schedules.<\/li>\n<li>When she finally arranged a team meeting, Ms. Ross was informed she could ask a different clinician (\u201cdoctor shop\u201d) for an opinion on her husband\u2019s eligibility for euthanasia. She soon found a physician to sign off on her husband\u2019s medical assistance in dying (MAiD) request.<\/li>\n<li>After Mr. Blackwood\u2019s death, Heather Ross joined with Dying with Dignity to advocate for changes to Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s euthanasia law to clarify and relax the \u201cend-of-life\u201d eligibility requirement.<\/li>\n<li>The reporter\u2019s focus on death as a solution to suffering, while downplaying palliative care, is typical of media coverage of assisted suicide and euthanasia (AS\/E), as we discussed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/02\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-to-die-cecilia-chmuras-story\/\">last week<\/a>.\u00a0 Rather than investigating why his pain medications were decreased, whether Mr. Blackwood might have been eligible for palliative sedation, or what alternative measures were tried, the CBC reporter makes the denial of MAiD the central issue of the report.\n<ul>\n<li>The CBC report uses emotional language to describe Mr. Blackwood\u2019s symptoms. Phrases such as \u201cstumble in a woozy daze,\u201d and \u201cCommitted to palliative care,\u201d are designed to provoke an emotional response in the reader, and the word \u201csuffer\u201d is used nine times in the article.<\/li>\n<li>Suicide is presented as something to be avoided at all costs, even though, like euthanasia, it results in the person\u2019s death.<\/li>\n<li>The article quotes a palliative care specialist about whether Mr. Blackwood was at the end of life, rather than on the type and amount of palliative care he received.\u00a0 The reporter also quotes a spokesperson from Dying with Dignity, with no opposing view to provide balance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/pq-2018-assisted-dying-1.4830918\">second article<\/a>\u00a0from the CBC focuses on the difference between the \u201cend of life\u201d criterion in the Qu\u00e9bec statute and \u201creasonably foreseeable\u201d natural death requirement in the federal law.\u00a0 The piece quotes National Assembly Member V\u00e9ronique Hivon defending the provisions of the bill she sponsored.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/publications.msss.gouv.qc.ca\/msss\/fichiers\/2019\/19-828-04W.pdf\">proposal<\/a>\u00a0that would have changed the Qu\u00e9bec criterion from \u201cend of life\u201d to \u201con a trajectory toward the end of life for which the doctor can reasonably foresee their death\u201d became obsolete with the ruling in the\u00a0<em>Truchon<\/em>\u00a0decision that declared the \u201cend of life\u201d eligibility criterion unconstitutional.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>STUDY OF ONTARIO MAID CASES DOESN\u2019T ALLAY FEARS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cmaj.ca\/content\/cmaj\/early\/2020\/02\/11\/cmaj.200016.full.pdf\">new study<\/a>\u00a0came out on Tuesday comparing demographic information about people who received medical assistance in dying between June, 2016 and October, 2018 and those who died from other causes.\u00a0 In statements to the press, the researchers claim that the study shows that concerns about vulnerability and isolation of people who request MAiD and access to palliative care are unfounded.<\/li>\n<li>In the\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/canada\/article-wealthier-patients-more-likely-to-use-medical-assistance-in-dying\/\">Globe and Mail<\/a><\/em>\u00a0Dr. James Downar is quoted as saying \u201cIt was very unusual to see anything but well-educated [patients] who were well aware of their rights and options and definitely had access to good palliative care.\u201d However on page 8 of the study itself, the authors state that \u201cA number of important patient characteristics were not routinely recorded \u2014 for instance, religion, ethnicity or education.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The study says \u201cPalliative care providers were involved at any point in the care of 77.2% of patients, and at the time of the request for MAiD in 74.4%,\u201d without defining what \u201cinvolved\u201d means.\u00a0 Other data in the study offer a clearer idea of the effectiveness of supports people received. The fact that 99.5% of people who requested MAiD reported physical suffering would seem to indicate that whatever palliative care they received, it was inadequate.\u00a0 Also, psychological consults were performed in only 6.2% of MAiD requests, though 96% of people reported psychological suffering.<\/li>\n<li>The researchers said that they did not have any information about disability status, but offered the percentage of people who lived in institutions as a substitute count of disabled people, without regard to the many disabled people who don\u2019t live in institutions.<\/li>\n<li>The way this study is being presented to the public seems like a propaganda exercise: \u201cexperts agree, everything is fine.\u201d But you only need to scratch the surface of the data to find that all is not well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis week, we look at the story of Bob Blackwood, and a new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/02\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-to-die-bob-blackwoods-story\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: No free choice to die \u2013 Bob Blackwood\u2019s story&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2020\/02\/webcast-archive-no-free-choice-to-die-bob-blackwoods-story\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: No free choice to die \u2013 Bob Blackwood\u2019s 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":[683,685,208,121,684,686,53,118],"class_list":["post-4727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-bob-blackwood","tag-canadian-medical-association","tag-cbc","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-heather-ross","tag-james-downar","tag-quebec-en","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4727","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=4727"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4731,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4727\/revisions\/4731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}