{"id":285225,"date":"2023-02-17T16:40:05","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T22:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=285225"},"modified":"2023-02-16T14:11:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T20:11:27","slug":"husband-canadian-hospital-pressured-euthanize-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/husband-canadian-hospital-pressured-euthanize-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"Husband says Canadian hospital pressured him to let them euthanize his wife"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A man from Vancouver in Canada \u00a0is speaking out after he says that hospital staff pressured him to allow them to euthanize his wife.<\/p>\n

Richard Leskun said his wife, Marilynn, was admitted to\u00a0Abbotsford Regional Hospital after falling from her wheelchair. In an interview with The B.C. Catholic<\/a>, Richard said that as he cared for Marilynn in the hospital, he was repeatedly “pressured” and “badgered” into first allowing her to die, and then, to consent to her euthanasia.<\/p>\n

Initially, Richard was asked by hospital staff if they could place a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) designation on his wife five times within eight days. Despite the hospital’s insistence, Richard refused, citing his Catholic faith and his pro-life views.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that meeting, I was very clear: I\u2019m a Catholic and I\u2019m absolutely against medically assisted dying,\u201d he recalled saying. \u201cI\u2019m against euthanasia. I want my wife to live. I want her to continue living. We\u2019ve had a good life for 10 years, even though she has dementia. I was very clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, as Marilynn’s condition deteriorated, he was asked if he would consent to her euthanasia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hospitalist is the one who came to me, quite late in the evening, on the night before she died,\u201d Richard said. \u201cI was absolutely worn, frazzled, completely worn out. I was there every day, almost 24\/7, and he said to me, \u2018You know, I have written orders for medically assisted dying.’ I was probably too tired to jump down his throat or whatever. I said no, for sure. I was too tired to feel anything. But I was saying no, absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it became clear that Marilynn was dying, Richard told the hospital he would consent to a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order. To his surprise, he found one had already been designated without his approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nurse said to me, and this shocked me, the nurse said, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s OK, the doctor has already put a DNR on,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this was done without my approval. I never gave consent until that moment. [But] she said, \u2018It\u2019s already on there. It\u2019s already on the chart.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Marilynn died shortly after. Though Richard said that he didn’t launch an official complaint, he now wants to warn others in Canada who may encounter a similar situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that the health system offers both death and life, you must speak strongly and clearly if you want life,\u201d he said. \u201cEnsure that your primary-care doctor believes in your principles and is willing to act powerfully to negotiate for the care you need.”<\/p>\n

\"Walgreens<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it is at a point when the system figures that there is too much cost and effort. I believe that the system has a motivation towards moving those kinds of people towards medically assisted dying,” he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to make sure that people are aware that they have to be very careful when they are getting care that they speak for themselves and that they understand that the system, I think, has a leaning towards getting rid of the bad cases, the hard cases, the expensive cases. And they have to be aware of that.”<\/p>\n

Abbotsford Regional Hospital is part of Fraser Health Authority, a publicly funded health care authority in British Columbia, Canada. This is not the first kind of complaint coming from this hospital system. In 2021, a couple reported<\/a> that their\u00a0elderly family member was pressured to be euthanized while battling cancer. In that same year, The B.C. Catholic conducted an investigation<\/a> revealing nurses within the Fraser Health Authority system were encouraging patients to choose euthanasia.<\/p>\n

Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A man from Vancouver in Canada \u00a0is speaking out after he says that hospital staff pressured him to allow them to euthanize his wife. Richard Leskun said his wife, Marilynn, was admitted to\u00a0Abbotsford Regional Hospital after falling from her wheelchair. In an interview with The B.C. Catholic, Richard said that as he cared for Marilynn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":193652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,3473],"tags":[19848,1303,10414,154,14932,14933,498,19849,10290,10289,19847],"yoast_head":"\nHusband says Canadian hospital pressured him to let them euthanize his wife<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Canada, a Vancouver man is speaking out after hospital staff allegedly pressured him to euthanize his wife after a fall from a wheelchair.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/husband-canadian-hospital-pressured-euthanize-wife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Husband says Canadian hospital pressured him to let them euthanize his wife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Canada, a Vancouver man is speaking out after hospital staff allegedly pressured him to euthanize his wife after a fall from a wheelchair.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/husband-canadian-hospital-pressured-euthanize-wife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-17T22:40:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-16T20:11:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/hospital-euthanasia-assisted-suicide.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/husband-canadian-hospital-pressured-euthanize-wife\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/husband-canadian-hospital-pressured-euthanize-wife\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\"},\"headline\":\"Husband says Canadian hospital pressured him to let them euthanize his wife\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-17T22:40:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-16T20:11:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/husband-canadian-hospital-pressured-euthanize-wife\/\"},\"wordCount\":650,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Abbotsford Regional Hospital\",\"assisted suicide\",\"B.C. 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