Dying at Home - PEI now allows palliative medication at home

On the left is Dr Mireille Lecours - the nearest to a saint that we have on PEI - she attended both my in laws in their last year and was Robin's GP during her Cancer treatment.

How we are born and how we die is surely a marker of who were are as a culture. We have made both birth and death a mechanical process where all the control has been given up to the profession of medicine. There are cracks in this regime with births and now we are seeing the same cracks appearing for death - at least on PEI.

There has been a change this week in policy that I think will make a huge difference in reclaiming being human on PEI. The government will now pay for palliative care drugs at home.

For my American readers in Canada the government will pay for your drugs only if you are in a hospital. This means that most people who are terminally ill or just dying of old age, end up being aggressively treated in hospital. For that is what they do in hospital, they try and make you better. Hospitals do not do palliative care, they do treatment. There is a world of difference between the two.

The result is that we spend more than the entire prior lifetime spend on the last year of life - effectively doubling the cost of healthcare - and we make dying a mechanical and inhuman matter. I will never forget two nurses arguing over a bit of gear in front of a family member in her last hours. It was as if she was not there or was a lump of meat.

The truth is that for many of us who will be terminally ill or who are simply dying of "old age" there is no cure. What there is, is the opportunity to die with our dignity. To be without pain. To be with our loved ones in a human setting. The best place of course is to be at home.

Until now this was not possible. Until this week, drugs would only be paid for on PEI if you were in hospital.

I think that this is a historic and welcome step - well done all who have ben involved!

Province Announces Details of New Palliative Home Care Drug Program

CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI -- The new Palliative Home Care Drug Program will provide drug coverage for pain and symptom management to those who wish to spend their last days in the location of their choice, including at home.

“This program gives individuals the resources and medications Islanders need to receive end-of-life care where they are most comfortable,” said Premier Robert Ghiz. “Giving individuals the choice to stay at home will help strengthen communities and reduce the emotional and financial burden on families. This program will help relieve the additional stress of finding money to allow their loved ones to be comfortable, in their own homes, during their final days.”

The Palliative Home Care Drug Program is an extension of the Integrated Palliative Care Program which aims to enhance client and family options for palliative care through access to trained, qualified health care teams in the most appropriate setting.

“This new program respects the dignity of individuals in the final stages of life,” said Minister of Health, Doug Currie. “This is a difficult time for families and, for most people, it is a time they would prefer to spend with their loved ones. The goal of the program is to make it possible for palliative care patients to receive more of their health care treatment at home, avoiding more expensive and uncomfortable hospital stays.”

“We are extremely pleased with this announcement,” said Mary Hughes, Past President of the Hospice Palliative Care Association of PEI. “We have been lobbying for a number of years to have a palliative home care drug program, and this is a great start. Now, individuals have the choice to receive their end-of-life care in the place they are most comfortable. They can be reassured that they will be surrounded by those they love, and still be pain and symptom free.”

Eligibility for the program is based on a number of criteria that define the patient’s need for end-of-life care. Once a patient is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, that individual can be referred to Integrated Palliative Care Program for a broad, holistic assessment. Eligibility criteria for this program does not include a financial needs assessment.

Staff who are trained in palliative care will work closely with family and care givers to ensure the patient is a good fit for the program. Once it is determined that a patient qualifies for the program, and is registered with the Provincial Pharmacy, clients will be able to obtain palliative care drugs from their own, local pharmacist. As part of the program, patients will be required to pay a small co-payment of two dollars per prescription.

The Palliative Home Care Drug Program will begin in the fall of 2008.