This weekend I had cause to wonder whether the Qu\u00e9bec health system will be able to prevent unnecessary deaths under Bill 52 that would allow euthanasia.\u00a0 I accompanied my husband who spent 24 hours in the emergency department at our local hospital. Our experience raised a lot of questions, even if it was not especially negative, and probably fairly typical. I wondered how a health system that is overburdened, with staff who are overworked, in facilities that are overcrowded, can implement the necessary safeguards to protect people from abuse of euthanasia.<\/p>\n
On February 9 at 4:45 p.m. my husband, who has chronic pain in his back and knees, was suddenly seized with pain in his hip worse than a broken bone or a kidney stone.\u00a0 He took his prescription painkillers for extreme back pain (no effect) and I called the ambulance.\u00a0 Once at the hospital, he was put on a gurney in an alcove.\u00a0 It was 5:30.<\/p>\n
I asked a couple of employees about getting something for his pain.\u00a0 I was told a nurse would come as soon as possible.\u00a0 Water was refused him by staff as a doctor needed to see him first.\u00a0 At 6:10 my husband swallowed dry more of his painkillers.<\/p>\n
Shortly after that, a nurse gave him a shot of Dilaudid.\u00a0 He had been in agony for ninety minutes, more than half of that at the hospital.\u00a0 I thought \u201cCould this health care system handle the kind of pain that would quality Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois for euthanasia?\u201d<\/p>\n
At around 9:30 the Dilaudid started to wear off.\u00a0 A pr\u00e9pos\u00e9e helped my husband undress for the X-ray and medical exam.\u00a0 Her brusque, rapid movements hurt him and sent the pain level back up.\u00a0 He was given more painkillers.<\/p>\n
The doctor came at 10 to conduct a brief exam.\u00a0 Then as the pr\u00e9pos\u00e9e wheeled my husband out for an X-ray, she chided him for his request that she take care not to bump the gurney.<\/p>\n
After that, I sat with him until he began to relax.\u00a0 I then went home to sleep, hoping he would receive his next dose of painkillers.<\/p>\n
When I returned in the morning, my husband\u2019s pain had reduced.\u00a0 A different doctor told him the X-rays were normal.\u00a0 After breakfast, a third doctor asked him to try sitting up, and listed the medications he had been prescribed during a 30-second visit.\u00a0 My husband was able to sit, but not stand. We did not learn if, when, and how he would be sent home, or with what support.<\/p>\n
At around 10:30 his gurney was moved to a hallway to free up the alcove for someone else.\u00a0 He joined the more than 20 people in the hallways, overflowing the capacity of both facilities and staff.<\/p>\n
Many elderly people were on the non-trauma side of the emergency department, who seemed familiar to the staff.\u00a0 Several appeared in physical or emotional distress, few had anyone to accompany them.<\/p>\n
The staff were always in motion.\u00a0 The vast majority were kind and helpful; everyone was overworked. The facility was as clean as it could be considering the volume of people passing through.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the Journal de Montr\u00e9al and TVA Nouvelles reported on the overburdened emergency department at the H\u00f4pital du Suroit in Valleyfield.\u00a0 The emergency unit is designed to accommodate 22 people; there were at least twice that number this weekend.\u00a0 This situation is so chronic that the corridors have numbers on the walls to indicate where people\u2019s gurneys are parked.\u00a0 A few have privacy curtains, most don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Genevi\u00e8ve Boileau of the Suroit CSSS is quoted by TVA as saying that the overflow is largely due to the lack of long-term care options for elders, who occupy acute-care beds that would otherwise be available for people who come into the emergency department.\u00a0 I wondered how the quality of life of those people might be improved by having services in their own homes.<\/p>\n
After lunch my husband stood up again briefly and took a few hesitant steps, but couldn\u2019t go as far as the washroom.\u00a0 I asked the receptionist if someone could bring his medication, which he hadn\u2019t had for four hours. A nurse deposited the pills on his table half an hour later, after I asked again. The receptionist did not know when a doctor would see my husband, and would not find out.<\/p>\n
At 4:30 my husband was able to walk to the washroom aided by a walker we requested. At a little after 5, I asked again whether and how my husband would be able to go home.\u00a0 I was told a nurse would have to make that decision, and would come to see him.\u00a0 An hour later a nurse affirmed that my husband was free to go since he could walk to the washroom. The nurse said no referral for chiropractic or physiotherapy had been prescribed.<\/p>\n
I wondered what happened to people who don\u2019t have someone with them, to make sure they got their pain meds, water, a walker, etc.<\/p>\n
I wonder how the factory-like environment of the hospital affects the morale of the staff and the self-esteem of patients.\u00a0 Can we really be sure that the health and social service system is not making life intolerable for people, then killing them because they suffer?<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"