At the end of last summer, an Ontario man suffering from an incurable neurological disease shared audio recordings with the world showing that hospital staff offered him medically assisted death, despite his repeated requests to live at home. Roger Foley, 42 suffers from cerebellar ataxia, a brain disorder that limits his ability to move his arms and legs, and prevents him from independently performing daily tasks.1
He has since launched a landmark lawsuit against the London, Ontario hospital, several health agencies, the Ontario government and the federal government, alleging that “health officials will not provide him with an assisted home care team of his choosing, instead offering, among other things, medically assisted death.”1 His suit also claims that “a government-selected home care provider had previously left him in ill health with injuries and food poisoning. He claims that he has been denied the right to self-directed care, which allows certain patients to take a central role in planning and receiving personal and medical services from the comfort of their own homes.”1
Foley decided to release the recordings so that everyone would know what was going on in Canada:
“It is the real truth of what is going on in Canada regarding so many assisted deaths without appropriate safeguards, in combination with the lack of necessary care that is not being provided to persons who are suffering.
I have not received the care that I need to relieve my suffering and have only been offered assisted dying. I have many severe disabilities and I am fully dependent. With the remaining time I have left, I want to live with dignity and live as independently as possible.”1
Please watch the video below to hear the recordings:
If you weren’t concerned before watching that, I bet you are now. Make no mistake, this is not an issue that should concern only the disabled. No, this affect us all.
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Tim Stainton, a professor at University of British Columbia’s School of Social Work, says the recording highlights serious issues that deeply concern people in the disability community. Including the fear that “assisted death will become a cheaper option to providing quality community supports.”1
And ethicist, Tom Koch, says he’s heard from friends in palliative care that “they are all facing this enormous pressure towards the rapid, cost-effective ending rather than the complex and perhaps more expensive but skilled homecare that we all deserve.”1
Make no mistake, Roger Foley wants to live whatever life he has left with dignity. Please consider going to his GoFundMe to help him.
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