A terminal ill man who needs around-the-clock care filed a lawsuit claiming doctors are pressuring him to go home or die in medically assisted death.
Roger Foley, of Canada, said he has been a patient at London Health Science Centres Victoria Hospital in Ontario for the past two years.
Foley suffers from an incurable brain disorder called cerebellar ataxia, a condition which limits his ability to move his arms and legs and leaves him unable to perform mundane tasks such as feeding himself and lifting himself up.
Because of the condition, Foley also has trouble speaking.
According to the February 14 lawsuit, Foley was given two options on how to move forward with his medical care: ‘forced discharge’ from the hospital ‘to work with contracted agencies that have failed him’ or medically assisted death.
Roger Foley suffers from an incurable brain disorder that limits his ability to use his arms and legs and makes tasks such as feeding himself extremely difficult
Foley said he has been a patient at a London, Ontario hospital for two years and was recently told that he either needs to return home under the care of contracted agency home care providers or allow a medically assisted death
Foley said although his deteriorating condition qualifies him for medically assisted death, he wants to live – and he wants to do so at the comfort of his own home, CTV News reports.
Foley, however, said he has run into some issues. In a video he recorded recently from his hospital bed, Foley said he does not want to return home under the care of nurses hired through contracted agencies.
He said there were two instances in which he received horrible home care providers and even contemplated suicide after one provider allegedly left him so sick he needed to be hospitalized.
‘I have been given the wrong medication,’ he claimed. ‘I have been provided food where I got food poisoning, I’ve had workers fall asleep in my living room, burners and appliances constantly left on, a fire, and I have been injured during exercises and transfers. When I report(ed) these things to the agency, I would not get a response.’
‘Unfortunately, the Ontario health-care system and the Ontario home-care system has broken my spirit and sent my life into a void of bureaucracy accompanied by a lack of accountability and oversight,’ he added.
Foley claimed that when he continued to complain the agency allegedly threatened to stop sending providers. He said he wants to manage his own health care team but needs the appropriate funding to hire workers.
Foley posted a video pleading for help saying that he wants to return home but not under the care of providers selected for him
Foley, pictured in an older photo, said his does not want the agency contracted providers caring for him because of bad experiences in the past
Foley, pictured in an older photo, said one provider gave him the wrong medication and he got food poisoning and had to be hospitalized under the care of another
In the video, Foley said he applied for self-directed funding, which would help him hire his own home care providers, but he was denied.
Foley said if he refuses to the leave hospital under the care of contracted agency providers and does not allow a medically assisted death, he will have to pay $1,800 a day to stay in the hospital.
That’s when he contacted a lawyer and sued the hospital, several health agencies, the Ontario government and the federal government.
Foley’s lawyer sent a letter to Canada’s justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould (pictured) asking that all medically assisted deaths are halted until legislation is changed
‘There are many individuals that are not being offered alternatives,’ his layer Ken Berger told CTV News. ‘They are not being supported or not having the necessary services put in place in a way that relieves their suffering.’
‘(Foley) is substantially suffering,’ he added. ‘He is going to fight this, not only to protect his own constitutional rights, but also the constitutional right of all Canadians.’
Berger also sent a letter to Canada’s justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould demanding that all medically assisted deaths are halted until legislation is changed to ensure that all necessary services to help patients live are provided first.
‘Persons suffering with severe disabilities require necessary health care, assistance and compassion,’ Berger wrote in the letter. ‘These crucial services are not always provided at times of most need or in such a way that relieves suffering; instead, persons with disabilities are being assisted to their death rather than being assisted with life.’
Berger told CTV News that he believes there are many other people in a situation similar to what Foley is going through.
Foley’s lawsuit includes London Health Science Centres Victoria Hospital, where he has been a patient for two years
He wrote in his letter that the Canadian government ensure ‘all necessary health services are provided before persons are misled into premature and inappropriate deaths because of their belief that they are a burden to society with no alternative to death’.
A spokesman for Wilson-Raybould told CTV News that she would be looking into Berger’s letter.
‘Our government passed legislation that provides a national framework for medically assisted dying that protects our most vulnerable,’ David Taylor said.