Among the dozens of people who testified in the investigation of a coroner about the death of Normand Meunier, Claude Labelle can be the only one who really understands what happened.
Meunier, a 66-year-old Quebec Toblegic Man, requested medical assistance to die after developing a severe Bedsore during a four-day stay in the emergency room at the Saint-Jérôme hospital last year.
The investigation has heard in recent weeks about the unbearable pain he suffered, and how the system failed before he died in March 2024.
“In my opinion, it was the right thing to,” Labelle said about Meunier’s decision in an interview with CBC News after his testimony on Tuesday.
“It was very, very, very difficult for him, a large and severe wound.”
Like Meunier, Labelle is quadriplegic, uses a wheelchair and is prone to severe panties in their buttocks.
“As soon as you have pressure or redness, it is the beginning of a possible sore, so what you have to do is relieve pressure on that red spot,” Labelle said. “I have to be on my side, one side or another, never on my back.”
That can mean days or even weeks of being prostrated in uncomfortable positions while expecting a Sane sore.
The key to preventing such sores is to change position every two hours and use a special sleep or rest mattress.
Meunier could not get access to such a mattress during his stay in the emergency room, according to the investigation.
Like Meunier, Labelle is frequently in the hospital, and has also had difficulty accessing those mattresses. He said that every time he has to explain to the hospital staff the attention he needs to prevent decreation.
Labelle said that when he does that, hospital staff often fired him.
“You have to fight to get care. That makes no sense,” Labelle said.
‘At the end of my rope’
Labelle told the investigation how he reached his own breakdown during his stay at the most recent hospital in January, when he developed a sore and his discharge was delayed several times.
“When the doctor told me that I had to stay even more, I said no, that’s all,” he said.
Labelle asked his doctor that day if he could request medical assistance to die.
“I was at the end of my rope,” he said.
The doctor asked him if he had an appointment in mind.
“I said ‘as soon as possible’. I said ‘if you can do it today, let’s do it today, I can’t deal with that,” he said.
Labelle said at that time that he feared he could be in bed for the rest of his life.
“I had made my peace with disability, with being in a wheelchair the rest of my life, but not in a hospital bed,” he said.
His doctor suggested that he take the time to discuss his request for assisted death with his family before making a final decision.
Finally he decided not to move on.
“It is still in my head. I don’t have sores at this time. I have no signs of pain, which encourages me,” he said.
“But it’s fragile.”
A dozen assisted death requests
A defense group that represents people with spinal cord injuries told research cases such as Labelle and Meunier are “the tip of the iceberg.”
Walter Zelaya, president of Moëlle epinière et motricité québec (Memo Quebec) also testified on Tuesday in the investigation, which in his last week heard expert recommendations on how to prevent such incidents from happening again.
“At least 12 members of our association have requested medical assistance to die due to health problems and a health system that does not take care of them,” Zelaya told CBC in an interview after his testimony.
Zelaya said that all requests arrived from the province loosen the criteria for receiving medically assisted death in 2023.
He said that in most cases, patients were frustrated that hospitals and CLSC were not doing enough to help them prevent and treat decoration.
“People are trapped among the improper suffering they experience and, ultimately, decide to leave. And they finally choose to leave,” Zelaya said.
“We understand this decision very well, but it is extremely painful to see that these people in the background did not want to die.”
More difficult for patients from medical care reforms
During his testimony, Zelaya showed the consultation several photos of painful panties presented by members of the group, similar to the one Meunier developed in the hospital.
His group maintains a registration of members who have a shirt, and there are currently dozens.
Zelaya said things became more difficult for group members in 2015 after the medical care reforms of the previous liberal government.
He said that the centralization of administration and decision making at that time meant that many local institutions, individual hospitals and rehabilitation centers lost their governance structures.
It became more difficult for patients with specialized needs to request care and services, and more difficult for them to complain when things went wrong, he said.
Zelaya said that has led to an increase in patients who develop serious tens.
Memo Quebec made several recommendations to the consultation, including:
- Creation of dedicated wound clinics to serve patients with pressure sores.
- Improve communications between home care services and hospitals so that patient care plans follow them automatically when they are hospitalized.
- Ensure that all hospitals and care houses have an appropriate supply of easily accessible pressure mattresses.
- Training on bed prevention and care for all health workers.
- Recognize and value the experience of patients with pressure wounds.
- Ensure that each patient suffers from a chronic plane is followed by a family doctor.
Other groups also made research recommendations this week, including medical care institutions and professional orders.
The Forensic Dave Kimpton will now take the time to consider all the testimony before delivering a final report with recommendations, which is expected in three months.
‘I have faith, this will lead to something’
Labelle said that when Memo Quebec asked him for the first time to testify in the investigation, he was skeptical.
“I wondered if it was a waste of time, if after all this, nobody is going to do anything,” he said.
But he says that seeing how the process developed and seeing how Kimpton handled witnesses made it more optimistic.
“He really is in his game, really attentive to details and taking the time to listen,” Labelle said.
“I really have faith that this will lead to something, and if not, Memo Quebec will continue to call the doors,” he said.
“Maybe I am there too,” he said, after stopping for a moment, a slight smile that curles on his face.
“Not maybe, I’m going to be there,” he said.
