Latest news with #LondonHealthSciencesCentre
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'I am a human being with medically documented disabilities, not a policy problem': Hospital Torments Man With Suicide Talk
Hospital staff have repeatedly pushed a disabled Canadian man to accept euthanasia. Now, he says, they are repeatedly asking him about suicide while cutting off basic needs like food and water. 'I'm doing my best to hang in, but I truly don't know how much longer my body can hold on,' patient Roger Foley wrote in a message to The Dallas Express. 'I think that there is no hope.' Patient Roger Foley has spinocerebellar ataxia, a neurological disease that makes movement extremely difficult. Foley requires a medical lift to perform basic tasks like eating, drinking, and taking medication. Since Canada's universal healthcare system limits his medical options, he has been at the hospital for nine years. The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) staff previously withheld food and water and pushed 'medical assistance in dying' (MAID) – another term for euthanasia – on Foley, according to The Federalist. He said the hospital stopped asking him about this for several years. But since the end of April, Foley told The Dallas Express, staff have started bringing up suicide 'almost every night.' He also said since he does not consent to bright lighting during treatment – which he says aggravates his neurological symptoms – the hospital again cut off food, water, medicine, and toileting. At the time of publication, Foley said he was on an IV and growing weak. The Dallas Express asked LHSC for comment but did not hear back in time for publication. Foley said he has been surviving on IV fluids for more than two weeks. He said he fears 'if this situation continues, I will die.' 'This has become a matter of survival,' Foley wrote in a recent email to hospital staff, obtained by The Dallas Express. 'I am deteriorating.' Pushing Suicide Questions In recent weeks, Foley told The Dallas Express, staff have been coming by his room 'almost every night' to discuss suicide. '[T]he hospital has not stopped and i [sic] am being harassed all the time and staff won't leave me alone,' Foley wrote in an email. 'I tell them not to ask me those questions.' Foley told The Dallas Express that the staff have asked him suicide questions during routine tasks like bloodwork. He provided recordings of recent interactions with staff to The Dallas Express, eight of which mention suicide. In many of these recordings, nurses enter Foley's room to ask him about a suicide assessment, and he rebuffs them. 'I have repeatedly ask [sic] to not ask me any questions about suicide but the hospital ignores me,' he said. 'I do not want to die, I want to live.' Foley said one instance took place on May 4 at 3:45 a.m. He shared a recording of the interaction with The Dallas Express. JoshZynomirski(Nurse)-ForcesSuicideQuestionsOnRoger-May4th2025At330AM 'Rog, there's just a quick question,' a staff member said. 'Don't ask me if it has anything to do with suicide,' Foley replied. 'The hospital is not to ask me ever about suicide… Do not ask. Do not ask… How many times do I have to tell the hospital?' The staff member continued to push the question. 'Wait Rog, just to make sure, you're refusing …,' the staff member insisted. 'I'm just saying, do you refuse?' 'This has to stop… Just don't ask me,' Foley said. In another recording, he asks Doctor Jaspal Dulay why staff are engaging in 'harassment about the suicide questions.' Dulay replied that Foley 'normally would be high up on concerns around your mental health because of what's going on with your care. You made it clear you're feeling at harm.' DrDulayRefusesToStopSuicideQuestions-May16th2025At926AM Foley asked Dulay if the staff would 'keep on doing the harassment about that.' 'I deny that we're harassing you,' Dulay said. 'You're saying it, I'm saying we're not harassing you.' The Dallas Express contacted Dulay but did not hear back in time for publication. Michael Alexander, an attorney who provides legal advice to Foley, told The Dallas Express that Canada's euthanasia law leaves room for hospital staff to ask questions about suicide. But he said they are bringing it up beyond reason. 'It's not just one nurse doing this, it's become a pattern of conduct on the part of hospital personnel,' Alexander said. 'They're clearly in the wrong.' Alex Schadenberg, executive director of Canada's Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, told The Dallas Express that Foley goes through 'a lot of emotional grief' and has felt suicidal, but hospital workers' continual questions about suicide could be considered pressure. 'It's almost like they're harassing him because it's one thing to say, 'We're concerned about your mental health,' it's another thing to have someone tell you, 'Please stop bringing up suicidality,'' Schadenberg said. 'To have them bringing it up anyway – even if there's some other intention behind it – it seems to me that it's becoming a bit of a coercion situation where he's feeling pressured.' 'You Don't Want Any Care' The hospital recently began requiring brighter lighting when interacting with Foley. He said his disability makes him extremely photosensitive, as bright lights cause him 'extreme pain, temporary blindness, visual scaring [sic] afterwards of blue and purple markings on my vision, and severe pain,' he wrote in an email. The hospital had been using a dim, orange lamp when treating Foley for years, but recently issued a lighting assessment — obtained by The Dallas Express – that requires brighter lighting when interacting with him. He said staff usually come in at all hours of the day and night, so this bright lighting is a frequent occurrence. Hospital staff reportedly cut off Foley's food, water, medications, and toileting when they began requiring brighter lighting on May 7, he said to The Dallas Express. He said he is still 'cut off,' though one nurse helped with these tasks on May 23 by providing ski goggles and reducing the lighting. Foley said the next night, the staff refused to accommodate. 'So far, that one night of access has been the only one,' Foley wrote in an email. 'I'm still on IV fluids and now back to being completely blocked from basic needs. I'm extremely weak, but still trying.' Foley wrote in an email he 'can barely raise mt [sic] head' and fears acidosis – a buildup of acid in the body. He also said he fears for his life. 'They are witholding [sic] food and water, and everything. they won;t [sic] help me unless full lights that they know my eyes cannot tolerate,' he wrote in an email. According to Foley, the hospital recently made some adjustments, removing several lights and replacing others with dimmer bulbs. However, he expressed concern in an email to administrators that 'the hospital shows no urgency and continues to deny me proper accommodation, even if it leads to my death.' He also said that since then, 'the hospital added an additional bright halogen.' 'Staff forcibly waking me, turning on harmful lighting without warning, asking suicide questions, and ignoring available alternatives is not safe or respectful — it is negligent,' Foley wrote officials in an email. 'I am not refusing care — I am being denied the ability to access it due to an environment made hostile by the S[tandard] O[perating] P[rocedure] you enforce.' A History Of Pushing Euthanasia Canada's universal healthcare system limits Foley's medical choices to a home care provider or the hospital. Foley said he first used an in-home care provider, but poor treatment left him suicidal at the time. He was denied the universal healthcare system's self-directed care program, which would allow him to hire his own home care staff. So nine years ago, he opted for care at LHSC, and has been there ever since. Foley has struggled with suicidal thoughts, so early on in his time at the hospital, he requested euthanasia – also known as MAID, according to The Federalist. He soon overcame these thoughts and canceled the appointment. However, hospital staff repeatedly pressured Foley to accept MAID from 2016 to 2018. He provided a recording of one interaction from 2018 with The Dallas Express, in which a staff member suggested ending his life. SamualBodden(nurse)LHSC-PitchingRogerToHaveAssistedDeath-Jan21st2018 'How are you feeling, Rog? Are you feeling like you want to harm yourself or anything like that?' the staff member asks. 'If you were, you could just apply to get an assisted – you don't have to do it in some dramatic manner, you can apply for assisted, you know.' Foley also told The Dallas Express that Doctor Robert Sibbald, the hospital's ethicist who suggested harvesting organs from euthanasia patients before they are dead according to The Federalist, pushed euthanasia on him in 2017. At the time, The Federalist published a partial recording of the interaction. The Dallas Express asked Sibbald for comment but did not hear back in time for publication. LHSC cut off Foley's access to the medical lift in 2018. According to The Federalist, an opinion from an outside doctor that year concluded the hospital's 'care fell substantially below standard for failing to meet Foley's nutritional and hydration needs during the period in question.' The LHSC also allegedly moved Foley into a ward with 'intense lighting' in May 2020, according to a complaint he filed with the hospital. 'At that time, I was confined to an intravenous drip and forced to cover my face with soft pillowcases to block the harmful light,' Foley wrote in the complaint. Alexander told The Dallas Express that Canadian doctors have been known to push euthanasia or withdraw treatment early. 'There are some public hospitals in Canada that will nudge a vulnerable patient towards death by compromising the basic rudiments of treatment,' he said. Foley is currently representing himself in a lawsuit against LHSC for its treatment, and Alexander said he is approaching a major deadline to submit case materials. 'Let me survive long enough to secure the direct funding home care I need to live and do legal work,' Foley wrote officials in an email. Schadenberg told The Dallas Express that Foley is 'really in a bad place.' 'The hospital may not be intentionally saying it per se, but by making certain decisions, they seem to be saying they want him out of there,' he said. Schadenberg suggested a simple solution: give Foley 'self-directed care.' This would allow him to leave the hospital and hire his own in-home caregivers. 'He's been turned down for that, and he's now in this very bad situation,' Schadenberg said. 'He can't live on his own, and he doesn't trust the care that he used to receive in the past.' In Canada, euthanasia is 'being normalized in a bigger and bigger way,' as many doctors 'simply see it as another form of medical treatment,' according to Schadenberg. 'They have totally divorced us from the reality of what it is, just killing somebody,' he said. He said the second main issue in Canada is the treatment of people with disabilities, whose 'needs are massively underfunded.' Schadenberg said disability entitlements have lagged behind post-COVID inflation, so people with disabilities are now 'massively underfunded.' In an email obtained by The Dallas Express, Foley pleaded with hospital officials to consider alternative care approaches. He called the current approach 'systemic neglect and discrimination.' 'I am a human being with medically documented disabilities, not a policy problem,' Foley wrote in an email to hospital officials, obtained by The Dallas Express. 'Stop this cruelty and work with me to survive.'
Toronto Star
21-05-2025
- Health
- Toronto Star
Mouth taping: No evidence viral trend is effective, could be harmful for some, new study says
TORONTO - Canadian researchers say there's no evidence that mouth taping has any health benefits and warn that it could actually be harmful for people with sleep apnea. Some social media ads and influencer claims say that putting tape over the lips can help people breathe through the nose while sleeping, and thereby reduce snoring and improve rest. Health It's the hottest trend in sleep. All you have to do is tape your mouth shut Experts are divided on the value of 'mouth-taping,' but its adherents insist it's transformed The senior author of a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One said mouth taping could be dangerous for people with sleep apnea, and many may not even realize their breathing stops and starts while sleeping. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'There's a large proportion of people out there who have undiagnosed sleep apnea, possibly severe sleep apnea,' said Dr. Brian Rotenberg, who is an otolaryngology specialist at London Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph's Health Care London and Western University. 'When you literally tape your mouth shut and your airway is already being blocked somewhere behind that, you've now blocked off basically half of your airway,' he said in an interview Wednesday. Rotenberg's research team screened dozens of studies related to mouth breathing and said 10 were worth examining further. Of those studies, Rotenberg said eight showed no benefits to using mouth tape and two showed minimal benefits that were not clinically significant. Rotenberg said people who have trouble breathing through the nose while sleeping should seek medical advice to find out why. Training yourself to breathe through your nose instead of your mouth is a 'noble goal,' Rotenberg said, noting that nose breathing warms and humidifies the air coming in and prevents dryness and discomfort. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW But there may be a 'mechanical' reason someone can't breathe through the nose, such as a deviated septum, nasal polyps or a nasal valve collapse, he said. 'Mouth tape is not going to fix that issue, right? Mouth tape is not going to fix a mechanical blockage of your nose.' Rotenberg said he and his colleagues conducted the study to provide science-backed advice to a steady stream of patients asking about mouth taping. 'I would say every week in my clinic somebody was saying something about mouth taping. So we thought, well, we should probably look into this.' Rotenberg likens using mouth tape to address a breathing issue to buying eyeglasses off the internet without seeing an eye doctor. 'Maybe all you needed was corrective glasses. Great. (But) what if you're having cataracts? What if you have a glaucoma? Or if it's actually a retina issue? All of these things can present as just 'my vision's not great.' But meanwhile, those are real diseases that should have been treated and are not.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2025. Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
Winnipeg Free Press
21-05-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
No evidence mouth taping is effective and could be harmful for some, new study says
TORONTO – Canadian researchers say there's no evidence that mouth taping has any health benefits and warn that it could actually be harmful for people with sleep apnea. Some social media ads and influencer claims say that putting tape over the lips can help people breathe through the nose while sleeping, and thereby reduce snoring and improve rest. The senior author of a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One said mouth taping could be dangerous for people with sleep apnea, and many may not even realize their breathing stops and starts while sleeping. 'There's a large proportion of people out there who have undiagnosed sleep apnea, possibly severe sleep apnea,' said Dr. Brian Rotenberg, who is an otolaryngology specialist at London Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph's Health Care London and Western University. 'When you literally tape your mouth shut and your airway is already being blocked somewhere behind that, you've now blocked off basically half of your airway,' he said in an interview Wednesday. Rotenberg's research team screened dozens of studies related to mouth breathing and said 10 were worth examining further. Of those studies, Rotenberg said eight showed no benefits to using mouth tape and two showed minimal benefits that were not clinically significant. Rotenberg said people who have trouble breathing through the nose while sleeping should seek medical advice to find out why. Training yourself to breathe through your nose instead of your mouth is a 'noble goal,' Rotenberg said, noting that nose breathing warms and humidifies the air coming in and prevents dryness and discomfort. But there may be a 'mechanical' reason someone can't breathe through the nose, such as a deviated septum, nasal polyps or a nasal valve collapse, he said. 'Mouth tape is not going to fix that issue, right? Mouth tape is not going to fix a mechanical blockage of your nose.' Rotenberg said he and his colleagues conducted the study to provide science-backed advice to a steady stream of patients asking about mouth taping. Wednesdays A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future. 'I would say every week in my clinic somebody was saying something about mouth taping. So we thought, well, we should probably look into this.' Rotenberg likens using mouth tape to address a breathing issue to buying eyeglasses off the internet without seeing an eye doctor. 'Maybe all you needed was corrective glasses. Great. (But) what if you're having cataracts? What if you have a glaucoma? Or if it's actually a retina issue? All of these things can present as just 'my vision's not great.' But meanwhile, those are real diseases that should have been treated and are not.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2025. Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
CBC
06-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Indigenous march outside London hospital calling for better health care support
Local Indigenous groups held a march outside London Health Sciences Centre's University Hospital Tuesday, calling for better support and access for Indigenous people seeking health care.
CBC
18-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
More money needed to recruit doctors to London, task force head tells councillors
London lags behind other municipalities in recruiting family doctors and needs to increase funding for a task force working to combat a physician shortage in the city as thousands of Londoners remain without primary care, the group's head told a council committee on Monday. The Middlesex-London Ontario Health Team (MLOHT) has hired six doctors to clinics over the last year but needs $80,000 this year to continue its primary care recruitment program, aimed at attracting more doctors to the region, said recruitment lead Andrea Loewen. "The money is used for the salary for this [MLOHT] role, plus travel and hosting events for doctors and residents which is really important for building relationships and helping them," Loewen told city hall's community and protective services committee. "This is what the city needs right now. We need this role to continue and we need to continue to get at the provincial level." About 118 doctors are needed to meet the needs of some 140,000 residents in London-Middlesex who don't have a family doctor. Demand is especially high in south and east London, Loewen added. Loewen asked the city for $80,000 over three years, but council ultimately agreed to pay $50,000 for the program's first year. London Health Sciences Centre covered the remaining $30,000 but Loewen said the hospital network is unable to provide that additional amount this year. Other funding partners include: London Economic Development Corporation, St. Joseph's Health Care, and Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. Last October, the Ontario government appointed former Liberal health minister Dr. Jane Philpott to lead a primary care team with a mandate to connect all Ontarians with primary care providers. On Jan. 27, the province announced $1.4 billion in new funding, on top of $400 million in previously-approved money, to provide two million more people with a family doctor over four years. 'Slippery slope into backfilling health care' Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis said the funding request "will absolutely be a no" for him at council because funding for health care initiatives is the provincial government's responsibility. "At the end of the day, this is a slippery slope into backfilling health care," said Lewis, adding that he believes this will eventually bankrupt property taxpayers. But Coun. Sam Trosow said putting $80,000 from a reserve account toward the MLOHT program will be money well-spent. "Londoners need this. We need family doctors and I understand the argument because I think the province has really dropped the ball on this but we need to do this," said Trosow. Other councillors said while they agree the funding should come from the province, they will support it due to the dire need. Hundreds wait in the snow to get a family doctor in rural Ontario 2 months ago Duration 2:03 More than 1,000 people lined up in the snow in Walkerton, Ont., on Wednesday to try to get a family doctor — but only the first 500 would be successful. Regions such as Niagara have offered doctors incentives such as a $100,000 relocation allowance, leading to 28 doctors hired in 2024 — almost five times more than what London recruited, Loewen said. Although Mayor Josh Morgan said he supports funding the program, he pushed back on the idea of financial incentives, arguing that they're out of municipal jurisdictions and pit cities against each other. "I will never get behind throwing municipal property taxpayer dollars into incentive programs that should frankly be illegal by the province of Ontario," said Morgan. "It is totally a race to the bottom with property tax dollars that were never meant to be spent on incentives for family doctors. We all need family doctors. All the communities do. It is a problem for the province to solve."
