Does Canada practice euthanasia?

I'm angry, very #%*&@! angry!

To make and long story short my granfather, 22 year vertren of the RCN, is dying in the hospital. In Aug 2008 he went into the hospital for severe stomach pain, across his entire lower abdomen. Test were taken and he was sent home. When his doctor recieved the test results he diagnosed no serious problems and said he had a stomach virus and gave him pills. The pain and discomfort continued and the doctor blew it off and kept giving more pills for this or that.

Aug 2010 he's back in the hospital. Doctor's amazingly diagnose him with a perforated appendix despite pain across his entire lower abdomen. Once again given pills and sent home. Mar 2011, after losing 78 pounds over the months since last being in the hospital, he's back in. After finally taking a look inside his stomach they find cancerous tumors and blockages throughout his stomach. Then its revealed that the test results from Aug 2008 SHOWED the cancer but it was missed.

MISSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday morning at 7am he was on a 1 ml epidural morphine drip. By 8am, due to increased pain, his drip was upped to 10 ml. Within a few hours, all the while noticing how the nurses suddenly had a reason to pop in every 20 minutes which is unusual, my grandfather started hallucinating. The nurses say its from the morphine but I cannot find any evidence morphine will cause hallucinations during use, only during withdrawl. My opinion was his breathing had slowed to the point his brain was starved for oxygen causing the hallucination. Then my own research has led me to find out that such a large increase of morphine can lead to respitory failure and cause death.

Is the hospital trying to euthanize my grandfather? The appearance of the nurses every 20 minutes makes me believe they were checking his breathing, knowing what could happen.

Any opinions or feedback from medicaly informed ATS'ers would be greatly appreciated.

reply to post by FreeSpeaker


I sincerely doubt that is the case. When I did some work at a hospital, years back, the nurses did rounds roughly every 20 minutes. I'm not saying your grandfather is getting good care, it sure doesn't sound like it.

i cant comment on the treatment... but about morphine causing hallucinations this is absolutely normal.

both my elderly uncle and my sister were hallucinating big time when they were on morphine, and they deffinitelly were not being euthenised.

i imagine its a scary time for you dude... its easy to let everything play on your mind.

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by FreeSpeaker

 

I sincerely doubt that is the case. When I did some work at a hospital, years back, the nurses did rounds roughly every 20 minutes. I'm not saying your grandfather is getting good care, it sure doesn't sound like it.

Rounds by the nurses were generally every 40 -60 minutes before yesterday. My grandmother was very angry that they kept coming in and not letting him sleep. It wasn't normal and if they had reasons they weren't telling us.

Thanks for the reply.

I am sorry for your ordeal and I will hold your loved one in prayer. I always get ticked off when I hear stories about folks sacrificing themselves for king & country, only to be tossed aside as a footnote.

I know that there is much debate regarding the pros and cons of American health care vs. Canadian health care. The private insurance companies in America are not much better in providing quality health care, unless you have the really good insurance (the expensive kind). Canadians with money rarely hesitate heading to America to get medical care they would have to wait to receive while in Canada.

Yet this is no guarantee either. My mom was on great insurance through my dad, a DoD employee for over 30 years, and she died in spite of a very positive prognosis from her doctors. I do not believe for one minute that her doctors foresaw her loss with this monster we know as cancer. That said, I do believe that, in general, doctors today are at the mercy of governments, lawyers, or insurance corporations regarding the care they are either required or prohibited from providing.

Stay strong.

Originally posted by boaby_phet
i cant comment on the treatment... but about morphine causing hallucinations this is absolutely normal.

both my elderly uncle and my sister were hallucinating big time when they were on morphine, and they deffinitelly were not being euthenised.

i imagine its a scary time for you dude... its easy to let everything play on your mind.

I've read now that hallucinations are a severe side effect of morphine so I guess it was normal but I still say they knew his breathing could stop and that explains why they wouldn't let him sleep all afternoon.

Thanks you for the reply.

Originally posted by JohnD
I am sorry for your ordeal and I will hold your loved one in prayer. I always get ticked off when I hear stories about folks sacrificing themselves for king & country, only to be tossed aside as a footnote.

I know that there is much debate regarding the pros and cons of American health care vs. Canadian health care. The private insurance companies in America are not much better in providing quality health care, unless you have the really good insurance (the expensive kind). Canadians with money rarely hesitate heading to America to get medical care they would have to wait to receive while in Canada.

Stay strong.

I'm torn here because when I was 3 I contracted Kawasaki disease and Canadian health care saved my life. We were poor and certainly wouldn't of had health insurance. Now I watch my grandfather vommit up his own feces because they attached a colostomy bag wrong and I feel like ripping the system that saved my life a new a#$H&*#.

Thanks for your kind words.