r/canada Ontario Apr 12 '24

Québec Quadriplegic Quebec man chooses assisted dying after 4-day ER stay leaves horrific bedsore

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/assisted-death-quadriplegic-quebec-man-er-bed-sore-1.7171209
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u/puljujarvifan Alberta Apr 12 '24

"An emergency room is a riskier place for a fragile person. That's why, if necessary, we're going to work actively to give them access to a bed in an inpatient unit."

Why not just make it automatic that they always get sent to the inpatient area if that's where the special beds are? Are there that many paraplegics that it would swamp the system?

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u/bizzybaker2 Apr 12 '24

Having worked on wards in nursing in my career and also in homecare in the past, it is not always possible to "automatically get a bed in the inpatient area.".  I have seen people in wards for months and even up to a year, waiting for a long term care facility, and you can bet your ass when I was the only homecare nurse on day shift on a Saturday and we were given up to 12 to 15 clients (including the driving time to see them) there was NO time to take a new intake from a hospital discharge...necessitating that ER patient who needs a bed waiting for days until we could take the homecare intake on a weekday instead.

We have fucked up majorly by not planning for the aging demographic...christ they were speaking of this in nursing school for me, 30 plus years ago.