Advocates, critics warn Ontario's planned changes to long-term care are a violation of patient rights
CBC
A group of senior care advocates and critics is warning planned changes to the long-term care sector are a fundamental violation of patient rights.
On Thursday, Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra introduced new legislation that, if passed, would allow hospitals to transfer patients awaiting a bed in their preferred LTC home to be placed in a "temporary" home after staff make "reasonable efforts to obtain the patient's consent."
Bill 7, More Beds, Better Care Act, authorizes certain actions to be carried out — such as the transfer of a patient to an LTC home — without the consent of patients if an attending clinician deems they require "an alternate level of care."
Dr. Vivian Stamatopoulos, a long-term care advocate and professor at Ontario Tech University, called the legislation "morally repugnant."
"How does all of this not send the direct message to seniors that their lives don't matter?" said Stamatopoulos Friday at a news conference with the Advocacy Centre for Elders and the Ontario Health Coalition.
"And frankly, does it matter what they want, what they need, what is in their best interests? Apparently, what is important is just making sure that all of these beds are full."
WATCH: Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra discusses proposed changes to LTC:
Before the bill was introduced, Calandra said Thursday the legislation would not force anyone who doesn't want to leave the hospital to go and wouldn't make "any changes to the priority waiting list," but would allow long-term care homes to be part of the solution to improving Ontario hospitals — many of which are under severe strain due to staffing shortages.
"There is a challenge in acute care, and long-term care is in a position to make a difference for the first time in generations," said Calandra.
There are about 5,800 patients now in hospital who could be sent to an alternate level of care if beds were available, the Ontario Hospital Association said this week.
The ministry said about 40 per cent of those patients are on a wait-list for long-term care. It says the legislative changes could mean 200 of those patients end up in nursing homes by the end of fall and up to 1,300 patients within six months.
As it stands now, Jane Meadus, a staff lawyer at the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, says the legislation takes away the fundamental right to consent to health care and could have dire results on a patient, particularly if they're sent to a home unable to provide the level of care they need.
Meadus says while it's hard to say what kind of legal action can be taken until further details are released, lawyers are already eyeing legal options.
"I know many lawyers are looking at this and are absolutely horrified at this breach of fundamental justice and fundamental rights of people, specifically the elderly and people who are disabled," said Jane Meadus, a staff lawyer at the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly.
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