Medical aid to die: “This decision has given him a lot of strength,” said Diane Lamarre

Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin
Diane Lamarre (photo) was assigned on the end of life of his mother who asked for medical help to die in January after its condition had deteriorated due to pneumonia that led to three hospitalizations in two months in 2017.

Patrick Bellerose

Friday, 9 march 2018, 00:00

UPDATE
Friday, 9 march 2018, 00:00

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The member of the parti québecois Diane Lamarre has agreed to entrust the decision of his mother to resort to medical help to die, in the hope that her story helps other patients in end-of-life.

“I say to myself that there are probably other people who are in a difficult situation, as she, and who do not think to be eligible for the medical assistance to die,” says Diane Lamarre.

Aged 85 years, Joan of Arc Savaria was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. When the paroxysms of coughing assailed her, ” several times a day “, it had the feeling of drowning from the inside.

“For several years, she had decided not to move further than from his bed to his chair in the kitchen. But then, the simple fact of to lift up her pillows in her bed was now enough to trigger her episodes of coughing, ” says the member for Taillon, on the South Shore of Montreal.

In the last months of 2017, the situation has deteriorated as a result of pneumonia that led to three hospitalizations in two months.

Shrimps and glass of wine

In January 2018, Joan of Arc Savaria has formally asked for medical help to die. A decision has “given a lot of strength,” emphasizes Diane Lamarre.

“In the past few years, often, it had a little tremolo in the voice. And there, in the last days, it is she who was comforting her. “

Once the request is made, the process took less than a week. The fateful date was set for the following Sunday. “It is deeply moving” to be confronted with the death announced to his mom, ” says Diane Lamarre. “But my father died suddenly of a heart attack, then I would have liked to have a few more minutes “, nuance-t-elle.

The previous day, children and grandchildren gathered in the room of the hôpital Charles-Le Moyne, a few metres from the ice machine, noisy, note Diane Lamarre. “Mom loved the shrimp, so we ate it with the small red sauce that she loved and a small glass of white wine,” says the mp.

The Sunday came, only three children remained to witness the departure of their mother, according to his will. “His last words were : “I am happy, I am serene, I am well,” says Diane Lamarre. And she said nothing after that. “

End-of-life

Committed to houses of palliative care, Diane Lamarre stresses that medical help to die do not replace them. “The palliative care teams, in particular, can help people to progress,” in addition to providing respite for loved ones, emphasizes the pharmacist’s training.

But her mother, she had exhausted her remedies medical. The medical assistance to die has brought him “some control” over his last days, writes Diane Lamarre. “What we’d like to all, it is to pass our end-of-life “, she concludes.

Medical help to die

• Between December 2015 and June 2017, 804 people have received medical aid in dying in Quebec.
• In the rest of the country, more than 2000 citizens have obtained that shortening of their sufferings since the entry into force of the federal law, in June 2016.