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Veterans Affairs says worker ‘inappropriately’ discussed medically assisted death with veteran

It's a numbers game. I retired the day I maxed-out at 70%. That was over 13 years ago.
My mother is 22 years older than me, and still active. My father was still golfing, and travelling the world, until almost 80, so who knows?

At my pre-retirement OMERS seminar, the instructor mentioned an attractive woman who had a fondness for old, as in very old, and very single / widowed policemen. As her six ( 6 ) spouses died off, she accumulated survivors pensions ( 66 2/3% ) for each one of them!
Hence why now when you retire the 'survivor' can never be changed.....
 
Hence why now when you retire the 'survivor' can never be changed.....

Unless the "survivor" predeceases the member.....
 
While I do not think that the topic should not be one raised by VAC staff, it may be taking the issue to far by banning staff from speaking of it all. We all know what happens when an edict comes down, especially on the civilian side of the house. What happens when a veteran has questions about his benefits in the event they decide to go this route? Their doctor isn't going to have the answers.
 
The worry with the Ontario issue is that while people wait for placement in their preferred LTC facility, they may end up in a facility that has some space because it's generally less preferred by folks - often (but I suspect not 100%) private sector with a poorer user track record. We'll see how it all unfolds.
As I look into things in greater detail, I’m finding a lack of minimum standard…seeing the AC fiasco shows how bad things can get even when a minimum service/capability is required/mandated. Uugh.
 
The worry with the Ontario issue is that while people wait for placement in their preferred LTC facility, they may end up in a facility that has some space because it's generally less preferred by folks - often (but I suspect not 100%) private sector with a poorer user track record. We'll see how it all unfolds.

From what I observed on many hurried calls into many LTC homes, or "facilities", over a few decades, municipal LTC homes were preferable. As they were partially funded by the municipality, they were part of the "not for profit" sector.

From what I have read, the number of seniors in Ontario is expected to double between 2016 and 2041.

In some smaller and more rural communities, the ratio of seniors will be higher.

Rapid growth in the share and number of seniors will continue over the 2021–2031 period as the last cohorts of baby boomers turn age 65. After 2031, the growth in the number of seniors slows significantly.
 
From what I observed on many hurried calls into many LTC homes, or "facilities", over a few decades, municipal LTC homes were preferable ...
That's how it generally tends to work here, too - as was the case 20+ years ago when I was doing a recce for my own mom needing more care than she could get @ home (and that was when the province paid for a fair bit of home care compared to today).
 
In BC the public facility is less preferred over private, my dad had saved a lot and the home he went into was very nice, but it was about $9,000 a month for a private room.
 
That's how it generally tends to work here, too - as was the case 20+ years ago when I was doing a recce for my own mom needing more care than she could get @ home (and that was when the province paid for a fair bit of home care compared to today).

The Ontario Long-Term Care Covid-19 Commission noted the wait lists for municipal and non-profit homes are much longer than those for for-profit facilities.
 
From what I have read, the number of seniors in Ontario is expected to double between 2016 and 2041.
There’s an obvious solution here, and it involves changing the definition of “senior”. There I go, Leading change.
 
There’s an obvious solution here, and it involves changing the definition of “senior”. There I go, Leading change.
As long as I am not included in the re-definition. ;)

We - Canada - really does need to have a serious talk about health care in general. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

ALL the money spent on health care and all the talk hasn't solved anything and in fact is making it worse.
 
As long as I am not included in the re-definition. ;)

We - Canada - really does need to have a serious talk about health care in general. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

ALL the money spent on health care and all the talk hasn't solved anything and in fact is making it worse.
Don’t worry, there’s a summit. I bet they decide that the Feds need to pony up more $$$
Edit: it seems they’ve already announced this revolutionary conclusion but I didn’t know that when I made this astounding prediction.
 
Don’t worry, there’s a summit. I bet they decide that the Feds need to pony up more $$$
Yup and committees will be formed and they will take six months to organize themselves and a year later we will have all forgotten about it.

Meanwhile the only ones that benefit will be the committee members.
Now part of the health care mess is us - Canadians - who have been raised on "free health care" BS, so for any little ailment you can run to the ER/Urgent Care/Walk In/ Family doctor. Some people need to be politely told "you are wasting our time and everyone else's. Go home and put a band aid on it."
 
Yup and committees will be formed and they will take six months to organize themselves and a year later we will have all forgotten about it.

Meanwhile the only ones that benefit will be the committee members.
Now part of the health care mess is us - Canadians - who have been raised on "free health care" BS, so for any little ailment you can run to the ER/Urgent Care/Walk In/ Family doctor. Some people need to be politely told "you are wasting our time and everyone else's. Go home and put a band aid on it."
It would be interesting to see if there is an empirical study that compared whether 'public' (single payer) healthcare citizens ran to the doctor any more than 'out of pocket' patients.
 
It would be interesting to see if there is an empirical study that compared whether 'public' (single payer) healthcare citizens ran to the doctor any more than 'out of pocket' patients.
That would be an interesting study. OK so I watch Dr Pimple Popper - yeah I know I know - but I at least have never seen the cysts, lypomas etc you see on that show. I wonder if its because the patients can't afford the bill.
Maybe MM can weigh in on this.
 
It would be interesting to see if there is an empirical study that compared whether 'public' (single payer) healthcare citizens ran to the doctor any more than 'out of pocket' patients.

The effect of partial fees (co-pays) in reducing frivolous use has been studied and confirmed. Co-pays collide with the concern that people with little money (or misaligned spending priorities) will avoid necessary care. Not that we have ever figured out how to deliver means-tested subsidies to needy people...

Canadian health care reform is crippled by the objection that someone, somewhere might be able to pay for extra care in Canada instead of crossing the border.
 
Angry Cops did a video about this incident today... He mentioned a detail that I hadn't heard before. Apparently the VAC worker, after being told that MAID wasn't wanted, went on to explain that they helped another veteran get MAID, then arranged counseling for that veteran's kids...

WTF is wrong with VAC? In what world is casually offering MAID to people seeking help reasonable, or acceptable?

 
And now the VAC is the subject of a petition.... by outraged doctors:

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No Soldier Euthanasia​

Canadian soldiers serve their country and accept unlimited liability. This means they can be ordered into harm’s way, including loss of life. Soldiers can suffer moral injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and physical injury as a consequence of being ordered into combat.

Canada owes a duty of care to those soldiers who have been injured physically or mentally as a consequence of being ordered into harm’s way. This duty of care extends to appropriate care and treatment for PTSD.

A recent and alarming news story by Mercedes Stephenson and Sean Boynton detailed a Canadian veteran being offered medically-assisted suicide as a “treatment” option for his PTSD by a Veterans Affairs service agent. The offer was unprompted and unsought by the veteran.

The story reports that, “Sources close to the veteran say he and his family were disgusted by the conversation, and feel betrayed by the agency mandated to assist veterans. The sources said the veteran was seeking services to recover from injuries suffered in the line of duty, and had been experiencing positive improvements in his mental and physical health. They say the unprompted offer of MAID [that is, euthanasia] disrupted his progress and has been harmful to the veteran’s progress and his family’s wellbeing.”

We are calling on the Minister of Veterans Affairs Lawrence MacAulay to enact a simple safeguard. Sign our petition calling on the Minister to ensure by regulation that conversations with VAC service agents about medically-assisted suicide may only be patient initiated.


 
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