Sunday, May 15, 2011

Canada: Judge Rules Institutions Trump Home Care for Elderly

British Columbia resident Kathleen Palamarek, an elderly widow and patient in the Broadmead Lodge nursing home in Saanich, a community in Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island, will remain there indefinitely, after a Canadian judge ruled Tuesday that institutional confinement trumps family living.

Mrs. Palamarek’s daughter, Lois Sampson, has spent three years trying to free her mother from Broadmead, to no avail. The ruling from B.C. Justice David Harris, coming more than two months after the end of a trial in which Mrs. Sampson brought in myriad legal and medical experts who questioned the quality of Mrs. Palamarek’s care and the advisability of her continued residence at Broadmead apparently puts an end to the case.

Among the issues raised by her daughter was the drug regimen Mrs. Palamarek was administered in the nursing home. Mrs. Sampson maintained, and expert witnesses testified, that some of the drugs had harmful side effects, especially for elderly patients including heart attacks or strokes.

Full Article and Source:
Granny Snatching: Canada - Judge Rules Institutions Trump Homes for Elderly

3 comments:

timlahrman said...

this sucks .... but is to be expected under socialized/managed care health systems.

A managed-care/socialized healthcare system is nothing more than a guardianship in disguise

StandUp said...

Very sad and I'm sorry to see it.

I used to think it might be nice to live in Canada. No more!

Betty said...

This is NUTS. Institution over home care? This judge obviously needs to see what institutions really are.