Editor's note: The following letter was sent
by Debbie Van Vehmendahl and Judy Miller, Sudbury sisters,
regarding their experience at Sudbury Regional Hospital this
spring.
This letter is in regard to a situation we
found ourselves in due to the SARS scare restriction to area
hospitals.
What our family had to experience caused much
heartache and emotional turmoil. It upset the patient so
drastically (something he shouldn't have had to deal with at
this stage of his life) that he went into a deep
depression.
Our father was a patient in the palliative
care unit at Laurentian Site from March 17 until his death May
20. A person should have the right to die peacefully,
especially in the palliative care unit, where a serene,
peaceful atmosphere should exist, and where the patient should
have the right to have his family by his side.
Our dad was in the final stages of his life
where time was of the essence. Because of the SARS hysteria,
only two family members were allowed to visit at one time, when
we should have been together as a family for emotional, mental
and spiritual support.
We were not asking that the whole family be
allowed in-although that is what should have been allowed in
palliative care. We wanted two able bodied family members, plus
our mother (who can't lift) be allowed in at one time to do the
lifting and caring of our father.
His only request for his own comfort and
dignity was to be allowed up on the commode. Several times we
entered the room to find our father emotionally distraught
because "they put a diaper on me."
The nursing staff had been instructed not to
get him up because of potential injury to themselves. We
understood and respected this. Our family was more than willing
to be there to do the lifting, but were being denied this
because of the SARS restriction.
Our mother, our father's soul mate of 55
years wanted to be by his side at all times in his final days
and had every right to do so without question.
Because she has numerous health issues, she
was unable to lift him so our only request as a family was to
have permission to have three people in the room at one time to
care for his personal needs, i.e.. getting him up on the
commode. This would include our mom and two able bodied
persons.
We were not asking for an unreasonable
request, yet it took two emotionally charged visits to
administration to attain this.
Even then "the left hand didn't know what the
right hand was doing." We still ran into problems with security
and staff because of lack of communication and ever changing
rules, not just daily, but hourly. In one case, a family member
was comforting a very emotional and upset father who was in
pain. This became a hostile, volatile and emotional
confrontation with a nurse who happened to enter the room just
as another family member arrived to relieve the other. The
nurse said, "There are three people in the room and one of you
have to leave."
It was cold, so heartless. There was no
compassion or caring for the patient or family members. She
could've left the room for a few moments until the patient and
family had calmed down and then requested that one person
leave. Emotional and mental care is as important as the
patient's physical needs.
This brings into question Sudbury Regional
Hospital's posted "code of ethics" which states that "we will
endeavor to respect the sanctity of human life and create a
humane environment." It states "We are committed to being
recognized by our patients as caring, compassionate and
attentive. We will strive to demonstrate respect, integrity and
ethical decision making."
If there was a case of SARS in Sudbury we
could have understood the visitor restriction. As there wasn't
even a suspected case, and Sudbury was considered a low-risk
area, this visitor restriction to was excessive, cruel and
inhumane.
At a time when we should've been spending
quality time with our father, we were down in administration
fighting "tooth and nail" for our father's dignity.
This caused needless pain and anguish in an
already stressful situation.
The ultimate insult was when we were informed
by nursing staff that when our father was critical (what more
critical than dying), when he was comatose and death was
imminent within hours, then the whole family would be allowed
in.
We wanted to be there when we could still
talk, laugh, and cry with him and hold his hand through his
pain.
Our family felt that our rights were violated
and we were cheated out of very precious time with our father
and he with us. This caused needless tears and increased
anxiety for everyone involved.
We finally got this issue partially resolved,
but were still harassed and angered by the ever changing
rules and one very "empowered" security guard
on a daily basis.
We would like changes to occur for families
of dying loved ones, should "God forbid" future outbreaks of
some disease occur. Visitor to this unit or other dying
patients should be exempt from visitor restrictions.
Debbie Van Vehmendahl
Judy Miller
Sudbury