Comfort Care

The following by Irene Ogrizek.  June 26,2016 (ireneogrizek.com)

One of the worst things that ever happened to my family, happened in a Canadian hospital. My mom was deteriorating, but instead of being helped to survive, she got surreptitious “comfort care”—that euphemism for let’s help this person die. We weren’t aware because we were told a different story, one that led us to believe there was some hope.

It’s a story I expect would have been reversed once she passed away; we would solemnly be told, “We’re sorry, but she was going to die anyway.” I know this because after my mother survived, I spoke to numerous families who’d been told the same after a parent had died. It got me wondering. Had it been true each time?

After my mother left the hospital, badly maimed, I engaged in several bouts of letter-writing to various government agencies and institutions. I wanted an explanation for what had happened, but when not one responded, and my anger became unmanageable, I gave up. Given my mother’s age and the vagaries of Canadian law, no legal recourse was available for us either: the powerlessness we experienced was total.

Addedum:  In BC there is a You Tube video: How the health authority deals with the public.  It says (1) delay (2) deny (3) divide (family from patient) (3) discredit (5) demoralize.  This process is so common that every lawyer and doctor knows it and it works.  It has been six years now since Randy had his accident and he was hospitalized and it has taken its toll.  The health professionals know exactly what they are doing and are robotic in their execution of this directive.