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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Carter Appeal

Listening to the Carter Appeal last week the bell rang what about reverse discrimination.  Why is it that two or three people who are so handicapped that they can't commit suicide by themselves should be granted a "good and safe" death under the supervision of the medical system while the rest of us who are suffering have to opt for a painful death by dehydration (refusal of food and water i.e.refusing medical treatment) or a violent end with a gun.
 
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Nothing has Changed

The other day at the Oakridge bus stop I mentioned to one of the RN in Randy's Ward who was waiting for the bus that Randy is going to be angry at me as I am very late.  She didn't say anything but I noticed her inching away from me to being fifteen feet away.  It didn't connect.  At 57th after exiting from the bus with this RN who was walking more than a few feet behind me on the public sidewalk to the entrance of GPC and at the 7th tree I tumbled from the sidewalk head first and fell. : the sidewalk was sixty years old, it was uneven and I was wearing sloppy shoes.  As I laid on the grass next to the sidewalk not knowing if I was injured or not the RN from the Oakridge bus stop walked pass me without even inquiring if I was okay.  I could not believe it. A RN, a nurse, someone who I see whenever she is on shift, Randy's sometimes charge nurse, and she just walked by.  If she can't greet or help an old lady in distress I wonder what she is doing to the residents at GPC.  I know there are some good people at GPC but I would like to know who they are. During the 2.5 years I have been going to GPC no one has shown me any real  kindness...I wonder how many patients/residents at GPC are likewise treated by this nurse in the same manner. But then no one would see her behavior since patients are in private rooms or hidden behind mostly closed curtains in open wards which wards are designed so that staff can see all the patients from a glance but when the curtains are closed then no one can see no evil, heard no evil, speak no evil..  Relying on S02 meters should not the accepted method to use when a patient needs suctioning.  The SO2 is a default and subject to equipment failure and in Randy's case he rarely has his SO2 meter on during the day or his humidifier on during the day putting him at risk.. Using the humidifier keeps his secretions thin so they do not plug up preventing him from breathing. .Randy can't talk so he can't even call for help as his call bell is hung up behind his headboard out oh his reach, so he could not even reach it if he had to. All hospital wards should be videoed and audioed so every movement and conversation can be heard.  In Jails every thing is videoed so why not hospitals. When you go to a retail store you are under surveillance.There are cameras on transit vehicles.  Residents are not asked if they want to be under surveillance or not (patients do not even have this protection) it is up to the hospital.  You would think that Risk Management would be insisting on such measures to protect the integrity of health care.

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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Flashback and post traumatic stress

I am in a very bad state of mind.  I have having reoccurring flashbacks of my life these past few years.  I wish these memories on no one.

Yesterday I was reading the Particulars from one of my neighbours from hell.  The Particulars are in the complaint she filed with Animal Control over Randy's doggies.  Her hate of me is a direct result of my  banning from George Pearson Centre. I must be a crazy otherwise I would not have been banned so she has license to do what she wants to harass me and make my life untenable as she is being a good neighbour looking after the neighbourhood and calling the police (and the police came) because she suspected that I was casing homes in the area so I could rob them. I was walking the doggies. To resolve the doggie issue with her (their barking etc.) I asked her for the use of her overgrown six foot high fenced backyard for the doggies to play in as I had no fenced yard. To her any sharing of her never used unkept fenced-in property was a preposterous suggestion.  This from a mature woman who lives with her 80+ year old mother in a $3 million teardown bungalow off of Cambie at Oakridge. 

But then it now seems that my banning is now under the heading guidelines. I am not sure what guidelines mean to VCH because it apparently gave authority to Paladin security and medical staff to physically assault me and deny me access to Randy on his death bed when he had pneumonia in October 2012 with a DNR over his head. I was forcibly removed from Ward 2 with the brutal assistance of the VPD. Every other time I had occasion to deal with the police they were always kind to me.  I did not want to leave Randy as he was very sick (with a DNR unknown to me on his chart)..It might have been the last time I could have been with him. A DNR means that a patient does not go to intensive care. With a serious pneumonia this is where you should go especially if you are rushed from another hospital. In this case from GPC, to UBC, to VGH..

And the only consolence I have are the words of my MLA, Moira Stilwell, that I should not take the actions of GPC personally as VCH is just being overly cautious. I have nothing against banning for two days as emotions can run high but not for two years and beyond.  This from a MLA whose constituent office is never open for constituents.  In the two years that I have lived here, I went to her office many times and her office was always closed.  If you phone there is a message that says if the office is closed the staff is in the community working.  Doing what, to whom, where. Moira has so much perceived power that she doesn't have to interact with the public unless it is managed and staged but then she has a medical degree so she knows she can do whatever she wants and get away with it. No accountability, just photo opts. A mole for Vancouver Coastal Health.

On Wednesday ten days ago I went to the garbage, lifted the lid, and found the three "teak boards" I use as a portable ramp for Randy to access my basement suite. I live in the basement of a duplex.  One of my neighbours from hell was reinforcing the fact that the tenants here do not want a handicapped person on the premises as it made them feel uncomfortable. Another stress on my life ...I now have to guard these boards with my life so Randy can visit me. I assume it was this neighbour who deliberately cemented cement blocks on the sidewalk in front of her duplex so I could not push Randy in his wheelchair pass her door. This was the same neighbour who complained that I would damage the common area grass should I exit to the grassy area as I pushed Randy to the small garden patio area I have in front of my windows. The common grass is fifty years old, diseased, and should be replaced.


When I went to see Randy at 2:00 pm he wasn't looking well and I did not know why.  He said that he wanted to go back to bed which is uncharacter for him as he always wants to go off site.  I was concerned as he seemed to have breathing problems as his trach needed suctioning. His eyes were in a fixed staring state with tears, his colour was off, and he looked lethargic. The RN said he was fine after she took his temperature.  But still he looked not well.  I started to panic.  It wasn't like him.  I let him to muse for a few minutes then I asked him did he want to stay in GPC in bed because on Sunday I was crying and he couldn't help me.. He said yes.  I told him that I have a right now and then like Randy has the right to be depressed and cry.   He concluded that was okay and a few minutes later he asked for the letterboard and he wrote Let's go home. It was 2:30.

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Sunday, March 10, 2013

Kenny is Dead

I was told that Kenny Ng has died at Vancouver General Hospital.

How often do substitute decision makers make the decision to withdraw treatment. Kenny would have died in his own time.  What a waste of the court's time, the lawyers' times, and the hugh division that has happened between the families.  Not to mention the financial $cost to do this. And the nauseating taste/fear of the system to me. In Canada we have no inherent right to life, liberty and security of person. 

How many deaths are caused by removing life support? By substitute decision makers? By patients themselves? There is no way of knowing. 

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Saturday, March 9, 2013

Kenny Transferred February 28 2013

I was advised by three sources that Kenny was transferred on February 28 2013.  I am not sure what "transferred" means at GPC as its policy is not to tell as it is confidential information and can only be given out with the approval of the patient and in this case, Lora, as Lora is Kenny's committee and she can do whatever she wants with Kenny be he dead or alive. She doesn't even have to tell his parents.  

I do not understand why there hasn't been any public interest over what is happening.  But then if the public doesn't know or even those that live and work at GPC do not know, how can an outcry happen.

A medically appropriate decision implanted in Lora's mind by whom?



Sunday, March 3, 2013

View HUNGRY (power of a substitute decision maker)


  Please search and view video:  vimeo.com/35540157
  (from the viewpoint of the patient)

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