His partner, Sylvie Brosseau, says without having access to a special mattress, Meunier developed a major pressure sore on his buttocks that eventually worsened to the point where bone and muscle were exposed and visible — making his recovery and prognosis bleak.
I’m concerned how much the focus is on being a burden to others. If someone wants to die then fair enough, but if they die for the benefit of others that isn’t a free choice.
The article goes on about this pressure sore, but I don’t think that’s why he wants to die.
It quotes him saying that he doesn’t want to be a burden, and as he’s a fairly new quadriplegic (less than two years) who’s had multiple health issues during that time (including other pressure sores), I think his mind was already made up long before this sore.
He basically can’t accept his disability.
Obviously, the hospital needs to get their shit together, but this situation goes way deeper than a sore (no pun intended).
Meunier developed a major pressure sore on his buttocks that eventually worsened to the point where bone and muscle were exposed and visible — making his recovery and prognosis bleak.
He was told the sore — a gaping hole a few centimetres in diameter — would, at best, take several months to heal, according to the experts they consulted.
Don’t trivialize the sore.
Also, what is mind blowing is that this monstrosity is nosocomial. The healthcare system gave it to him.
So why would he have any trust to such a system afterwards to care for him with his disability in the long term?? This is a completely catastrophic healthcare failure.
I 100% don’t trivialize it. I’ve had a similar wound that took many months to heal, so I empathize completely. From what I understand, the sore doesn’t cause him pain, but it requires ongoing care that he doesn’t want to “burden” (his words) anyone with.
Also, what is mind blowing is that this monstrosity is nosocomial. The healthcare system gave it to him.
Yes. I’m in complete agreement. I hope that his wife can get a settlement out of it.
So why would he have any trust to such a system afterwards to care for him with his disability in the long term?? This is a completely catastrophic healthcare failure.
I think we have two separate issues here. On the one hand, it really was a failure of the healthcare system (the specific hospital), for the series of events leading to his pressure sore.
But from reading more about this case, there was a lot more to it. The man was obese; his wife was his caregiver, and he viewed his care as a burden; he quite literally has no use of his arms or legs and can’t participate in the things he used to love; he suffered from multiple respiratory infections and had pressure sores previous to this hospital stay; and I don’t think he wanted his life to continue like that.
As I’ve volunteered to help disabled people, I can understand how one can get into a mental hole of despair. It’s common, especially for life-altering disabilities that came from something sudden, like an accident.
Would more time have given him hope for the future? I have no idea. I don’t know the man. I do know several paraplegics, who have gone to live quite normal lives over decades, but it’s far different from being a quadriplegic.
I think this is a terrible way to say that he’s made a choice not to live with it. You’re framing it as an inability to cope. Choosing death is coping.
I think this is a terrible way to say that he’s made a choice not to live with it.
Can’t live with it, or unwilling to? There’s a difference, and it sounds like chose the latter (in his interview).
I support MAID, and don’t judge this man at all for choosing it; I’m glad the option to end his suffering was made available.
But this story goes beyond a pressure sore. Even though the focus of the article makes it seem like a pressure sore drove someone to literally pick death. I’m saying that his mind was already made up well before this happened.
They didn’t spend money on accommodating his medical needs and they got to euthanize a disabled person, I’m pretty sure this is a win/win for Canada’s burgeoning eugenics program.
Add comment