This letter is not about the law regulating MAiD but is rather a criticism of the circumstances surrounding the recently publicized illness and death of Sam O’Neill.

As a Catholic and graduate of St. Paul’s School of Nursing, I was horrified to read about Sam and the last hours of her life.  

The regulations for MAID are clear: The patient must wait a minimum of 90 days from the beginning of the first eligible assessment before MAiD can happen. After Sam’s admission to St. Paul’s Hospital, was it a surprise that MAiD was not permitted and that she would require a transfer to another facility? Was the specified date and time for the procedure not known in advance? This demonstrates a serious lack of planning for Sam’s care by the team responsible for her MAiD.

It is understandable that extra sedation would be needed to ameliorate additional discomfort during the transfer. Why was the dosage not calibrated so that she would awaken and have more time with her family?

It saddens me that Sam O’Neill and her family were subjected to such negligence by the MAID team in a hospital that since 1894 has had a sterling reputation serving the people of Vancouver and providing tertiary care for all in B.C. 

Anne Wallace James
Surrey

 

Alleged consent to assisted suicide

My siblings and I have just lost our beloved mother. We are devastated, shocked and, honestly, seek justice.

In April my mother, who had been living in an assisted living facility, was transferred to a hospital, five minutes away, where she died at the hands of an ER physician. 

There are so many discrepancies in how she was transferred to the hospital, about the care she received, about the doctor’s actions, and about how she died. 

It is alleged that my mother consented to assisted suicide by agreeing to have the doctor remove her breathing tube and administer the drugs that assisted with her death. 

First, my mother was Catholic and strongly believed suicide was wrong. She was against it. Her faith was strong. Although she had advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, she and I had made plans for her to live with me in Toronto where we would look into health care and home nursing arrangements for her.

The doctor and medical staff failed to contact my sisters or me, claiming the hospital and assisted-living facility did not have our numbers. Both my sister and I know that both facilities have our contact information, and the ER doctor even called my younger brother and left a message on his phone. By that time my mother had died, leaving my siblings and me in despair and shock. 

The doctor had no right to proceed with my mother’s death, especially since she had been diagnosed with early signs of dementia. She also suffered greatly from anxiety and depression. Had we been notified, this would have never happened.

It took more than two hours for us to locate where my mother was and where she had died. The hospital didn’t have her on record when I called to find out what happened to her. I had to contact three Vancouver-area hospitals to find out where she was. 

This experience has been so traumatizing, and I am literally in shock that this doctor thinks he did exactly what a reasonable physician would do. I am a paralegal and I need answers, justice, and accountability for this travesty that took place. 

I have submitted a complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. I have also requested that an internal review be conducted by my mother’s care home and by Vancouver Coastal Health.

Shawna Mills-Ahuja
Toronto

(The B.C. Catholic is withholding the names of individuals and facilities in the writer’s account while the complaint process continues. No religious health-care facility is involved. The writer has provided documentation of her account, including a statement of facts, a patient care record summary from BC Emergency Health Services, a copy of the patient’s medication sheet, background information, and a copy of the official complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. The details in the documents are consistent with her letter. – Editor)

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