COVID-19 Problems – Part 2
(See also Part 1)
(Edits: 1.1 December 8, 2020 – 5:15pm)
The following information documents events in the spring of 2020 in Ontario and elsewhere. Health Care Rationing policies (“Death Panels”/“Life Boat Ethics”) were introduced by the Canadian Medical Association, and by the governments of Canada, Ontario, other provinces and other nations.
Following these policies, many seniors, in care homes for example, were denied access to hospital care, being informed that there were no effective treatments. Other elderly patients were transferred from hospitals to care homes where there was an increased risk of infection and neglect due to isolation measures. Thousands of surgeries were also delayed.
The result of these policies were thousands of additional empty hospital beds in Ontario. There was a denial of health care, not a shortage. Instead, governments spent resources on testing and screening. This refusal of service amounts to negligence and should be investigated by police services and legal professionals with respect to the Criminal Code and Charter of Rights and Freedoms (https://canadianliberty.com/we-refuse-to-accept-the-criminally-negligent-covid-19-death-panel-policies/).
This huge excess of hospital beds is one reason why the COVID-19 emergency orders are invalid. We insist that, regardless of government orders, health care providers must reject these policies, open their minds to all appropriate treatments, and open their doors to everyone who is ill who needs assistance—regardless of age—in order to provide actual treatment–not brand new and dangerous mRNA vaccine technology which uses a genetic code to program human cells (https://canadianliberty.com/covid-19-problems-part-1/). With any treatment, there should always be respect for the patient’s absolute, internationally recognized right to informed consent (http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=31058&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html).
The evidence below contradicts the widespread belief that government COVID-19 policies are intended to protect the elderly. Now that the cold weather has arrived when many are more vulnerable to illness, people need to be made aware of what has happened and hear the reassertion of basic human values.
- “The provincial government … “triage protocol” for doctors who may soon be forced to make ethically fraught decisions over how to ration critical care beds and ventilators–a policy document that will shape life-or-death choices over which patients to prioritize if hospitals become overwhelmed by the COVID-19 outbreak.”
- “[L]ong-term-care patients who meet specific criteria will also no longer be transferred to hospitals.”
Canadian death panels policy: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/health-professionals/covid-19-pandemic-guidance-health-care-sector.html
- “LTC facilities … asked to provide surge capacity … admission of non-COVID-19 hospital patients . . .”
- “If COVID-19 does develop in LTC facility residents, they should be cared for within the facility ”
- “resource allocation … If patients are not eligible … provided with palliative care and/or pain management.”
CMA: https://policybase.cma.ca/en/viewer?file=%2Fdocuments%2FPolicypdf%2FPD20-03.pdf
- “difficult decisions have to be made about who receives critical care (e.g., ICU beds, ventilators) ”
- “triage teams or committees … lessening the moral burden being placed on the individual physician.”
- “physicians receive legal protection” to remove “fear of civil or criminal liability or professional discipline”
- “giving priority to younger patients and those with fewer coexisting conditions. …”
Ministry of Health Directives: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/coronavirus/dir_mem_res.aspx -Transfer of Hospital Patients & Community Clients to LTC … Apr 29 -Transfer of Hospital Patients to Retirement Homes Apr 23 -Ramping Down Elective Surgeries & Other Non-Emergent Activities, Mar 15
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-19-long-term-care-1.5519657 “‘No benefit’ to sending seniors ill with COVID-19 to hospital, some nursing homes tell loved ones”
- “‘She would be denied emergency transfer in the event that she was deathly ill from COVID.’”
- “She would be denied access to an ICU. She would be kept in the care facility”
- They suggested the family change her status to “Do Not Resuscitate.”
- Letter sent to family by Ottawa LTC: “residents who get sick with COVID-19 will stay where they are.”
- “one of thousands of seniors discharged to nursing and retirement homes as Ontario, Quebec and other provinces rushed to clear beds”
- “some hospitals, physicians and long-term care facility administrators were discouraging families from sending infected nursing-home residents to the hospital, saying little could be done to effectively treat COVID-19 in patients who were old and chronically ill.”
- “most of the nursing- and retirement-home residents who … succumbed to COVID-19 … died inside the virus-stricken, understaffed facilities, … many of the hospital beds opened for coronavirus patients sat empty.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-covid-19-kills-nine-infects-34-staff-at-bobcaygeon-nursing-home/ “Nine residents die, 34 staff suffer symptoms as coronavirus devastates Bobcaygeon, Ont. nursing home” The administrator actively discouraged families from sending elderly residents to the hospital. “you may face the decision to send your loved one to the hospital, especially if they develop pneumonia and have trouble breathing” “A frail nursing-home patient who is put on a ventilator is quite likely to suffer a great deal, and may not survive … think hard about what would be in the best interest of your loved ones.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-coroner-investigates-covid-deaths-in-care-homes-but-cant/ “George Morrison .. . . died a week after he was sent to hospital with apparent anorexia, dehydration, a urinary tract infection and symptoms of COVID-19, said his daughter …” “Ms. Morrison asked Ontario’s chief coroner to investigate her father’s death because of her concerns that he was not being properly fed and cared for because of the home’s low staffing levels …”
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/analysis-how-montreals-chslds-mirrored-the-diamond-princess-outbreak/ “Here in Quebec, and especially in Montreal, it has become clear that our … long-term care centres (CHSLDs) have also become incubators for the coronavirus …” “authorities in Quebec were late in transferring residents out of CHSLDs. They did so only after many fell ill, moving them to acute-care hospitals . . . .Some of those residents were malnourished and dehydrated.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20200406203248/http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/coronavirus/docs/LTCH_outbreak_guidance.pdf. Isolation and screening rules for staff & visitors (pp. 2,7).
FAO Financial Accountability Office of Ontario: https://fao-on.org/en/Blog/Publications/health-2020 Before the COVID-19 outbreak: Ontario had 906 acute care beds, 357 critical care beds unoccupied. By April 14, measures “made available an additional 9,349 acute care beds, 2,077 critical care beds.” Measures included: “cancelling elective surgeries and other measures taken to free-up existing beds (including moving existing hospital patients to alternative places of care)” and also “measures to expand capacity.” Result: despite outbreaks among the elderly mostly NOT in hospitals: “As of April 23, there were approximately 9,345 unoccupied acute care and 2,191 unoccupied critical care beds.”
CTVNews.ca, Apr 29/20: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/all-of-our-rooms-are-empty-hospital-ers-vacant-during-pandemic-1.4918208 “‘All of our rooms are empty’: Hospital ERs vacant during pandemic” “The lights have … been turned off in some … corridors,” “not even staffing it with nurses because there’s no patients” “more than 11 thousand unoccupied beds in hospitals across Canada, … fewer ER visits … staggering number of surgeries—almost 53 thousand—have been cancelled.” “still not doing elective cases” “Ontario’s health minister estimates that 35 people have died waiting for cardiac surgery.”
More Recently
Oct 1/20: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/surgery-backlog-pandemic-ottawa-outaouais-1.5744525 The earlier postponements were still creating a severe backlog. “People with cancers and other serious conditions”
Nov 13/20: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/11/13/news/ontario-predicts-covid-19-health-system-strain-quebec-school-closures-second-wave-cases An Ontario government adviser, Brown “said that under … projected scenarios, intensive care occupancy would exceed the key threshold of 150 beds ….” “It’s that point at which we need to start cancelling planned surgeries” They set up some arbitrary number or technocratic “threshold” to trigger immoral rationing. “we need to”?
Dec 2/20: https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/hospitals-pause-some-non-urgent-surgeries-procedures-due-to-covid-19-pandemic-1.5212596 Sounds like seasonal hospital activity to me, but again hospitals are postponing surgeries.
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