Winnipeg senior dying of cancer in minority living well in hospice

Jane Durocher is spending the last days of her life at Jocelyn House, a hospice in south Winnipeg.

The 75-year-old has cancer spreading throughout her body.

Before coming to Jocelyn House, she was at Lyons Place and Riverview. She said while the care was good, she felt alone and afraid.

"Scared to death because there are so many patients in there. Everybody you don't know," Durocher said.

"There is nobody there at night time. It's all quiet. They don't hear nothing because the door is fireproof."

Durocher said her life changed for the better when she arrived at Jocelyn House four months ago.

"Next thing I know, I am here. It's like they dropped me from heaven," she said.

"This is a great place. I love the doctor that comes in here. He is absolutely amazing. I always say thank you because not every doctor wants to come here."

Palliative care specialists would say Durocher is dying well. While her life can't be saved, she is saving living.

That's the philosophy of the program.  Her pain and symptoms are being managed. There is 24-hour-a-day care and emotional and spiritual support in a home setting. Family and friends visit. 

But she is in the minority since this is one of only 16 hospice beds in the city. The majority of the 400 to 500 Winnipeggers registered in the palliative care program want to die to at home with the help of specialized doctors and nurses who make house calls. In the end, though some end up dying in a hospital bed.

If you go outside of the city, the story is stark. There isn't a palliative care specialist outside of the southern region, according to Dr. Mike Harlos, the director of adult and pediatric palliative care for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

"It's a huge gap and the more remote you get, the harder it is to access that," he said. "Paradoxically, the more remote you are the more you want to die at home. It's a tight community and for First Nations populations, there is a strong cultural connection."

Harlos is also head of palliative medicine at the University of Manitoba. He was asked if patients in remote areas would be more likely to opt for assisted suicide because of the lack of services.

"Basically every physician would be in a position to end the life of a patient with consent to reduce suffering when that physician has quite likely had minimal training in relieving that suffering," he said.

"If the patient doesn't know there are options, if the physician doesn't know there are options, then the only option that seems available then is to end that person's life. There needs to be more equity."

But there are those who think assisted suicide should be an option to avoid dying badly.

Paul Henteleff is a retired Winnipeg doctor who was the head of palliative care at St. Boniface Hospital for 15 years. He is now a medical adviser to the Manitoba chapter of Dying with Dignity, a group that supports physician-assisted suicide. 

"I see palliative care as the most valuable support that can be offered for people who are dying," he said. "Because it isn't a perfect answer for everybody, that's for me where assisted dying comes in."

Henteleff welcomes the Supreme Court's recent ruling on assisted suicide, saying it has a place in alleviating suffering.

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But for Jane Durocher , it's something she would never consider. It makes her think of her father, who killed himself when she was young.

"I was 10 years old. It is really hard on the family. When you are that young, you don't realize how precious life is," she said. "I just thought to myself, I couldn't do it. I couldn't."