Epileptic seizures, neurological disorder, possible placement in a CHSLD. A 20-year-old woman who was dying was denied medical attention has died of grief, according to her mother.
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Catherine Mercier, from Val-des-Mont in Outaouais, died in her mother’s arms last October. She suffered from Hashimoto’s encephalopathy, a rare autoimmune disease that made life difficult for her.
“She had a lot of epileptic seizures and several neurological seizures. She couldn’t find all her words. Her cramps hindered her life, but she was conscious of life, ”explains her mother, Isabelle Bergeron-Bélanger.
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Exhausted by her suffering and anticipating a difficult future, Catherine had asked for medical help in dying. Because of his age, doctors gave him a neuropsychiatric test that gave him a mental age of 11. “On paper, she was 11 mentally, and that’s why they told her no, because she wasn’t 18,” says Ms. Bergeron-Bélanger.
“After making that decision, Catherine asked me, ❝Mom, is it true that I’m only 11 years old spiritually?❞ Catherine was dying of pain, the pain of questioning herself. She said: ❝I couldn’t prove that I was in enough pain to be entitled to it❞,” laments the young woman’s mother.
“That’s the great tragedy of it all. She lowered her arms. She died a month later in my arms from an epileptic seizure. She was in so much pain. She didn’t understand why we let her rot in a CHSLD, that we let her in this pain. When you have a physical illness, the mental illness takes over because it becomes so severe,” says Isabelle Bergeron-Bélanger. “She was certified as going to CHSLD,” she adds.
The latter believes that the bill presented yesterday to extend medical assistance when dying to Quebecers suffering from Alzheimer’s, dementia or a serious and incurable disability is “good”, but that it is not enough.
Isabelle Bergeron-Bélanger wishes medical assistance tailored to each person who requests it. “Medical euthanasia is categorized. There is a list and we tick. It should be decided on a case-by-case basis,” she says.