A Canadian woman with a serious neuromuscular condition has been unable to obtain an appointment to see a neurosurgeon for four years. From the CTV story:
Ashcraft has something called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, or EDS, a group of inherited disorders that affect connective tissue. “It’s bulldozed my life,” she said, adding that it took years to get an accurate diagnosis.
For her, it means wearing a brace to keep her neck stable. She also has constant joint pain and feels weak.“I’m in terrible chronic pain,” she said. “The pain is horrendous.”
On bad days, she said it “feels like an axe in the back of my head.” She can’t work, and spends most of her days in a medical bed at her home.
Despite pain medications, Ashcraft said her condition is getting worse. She wants surgery to stabilize her neck.“ Surgery, it can reduce my pain. It will also keep me much safer because it’s dangerous to have an unstable upper neck,” she explained.
She accepts that nothing will “cure” her EDS, but she believes surgery will make her more comfortable. But she said she’s been waiting almost four years to see a neurosurgeon, and still has not received an appointment.
She checked to see if she could be treated in the U.S. Yes, but at the cost of $100,000. She has asked the BC Provincial Government to pay for it. After all, free health care and all that. So far, she has not heard anything.
In desperation, she is now contemplating a lethal jab:
With nowhere to turn and little hope, a struggling Ashcraft has been contemplating MAiD. “I don’t want my family to watch me suffer like that for years on end,” she said. “Death still kind of scares me, but what fears me more is that I’m starting to lose my fear of death,” she added.
But, but, but euthanasia = Compassion! Ditto, single-payer health-care! Right?