MS patient stuck in hospital considering human rights complaint
Christine Benoit can't be discharged because she can't get personal support workers
An Ottawa woman unable to be discharged from a local hospital because of a shortage of personal support workers is considering a human rights complaint if she's not sent home in the new year.
Christine Benoit, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, has been a patient at the Saint-Vincent Hospital since undergoing surgery for painful leg spasms in October 2017.
Despite being told five times since then that she's well enough to leave the hospital, she can't.
That's because there aren't enough personal support workers, or PSWs, to care for her at her Kanata apartment.
"I had expected that once the stitches were out, that I would be able to return home," she said Christmas Eve, her room adorned with a poinsietta and a small Christmas tree figurine.
"But that's not how it worked."
Needs daily help
Before Benoit was admitted to the hospital, two PSWs would visit her Kanata home three times a day to help with her daily routine, from getting out of bed and dressed in the morning to cooking dinner and getting back into bed at night.
The 44-year-old said that recent modifications to her motorized chair mean that she could get by with only one PSW during each of those three shifts.
Still, nothing's changed.
"The story that I keep getting fed is that there's no personal support workers available," Benoit said.
"But I've had quite a few of them come in and say, 'I'm available.' So I don't know why, exactly, they're not able to fix it."
LHIN acknowleges 'challenges'
Home-care services in the Ottawa-Gatineau area are overseen by the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).
In a statement, CEO Chantale LeClerc said that privacy reasons prevented the LHIN from commenting on individual cases.
However, the LHIN is "experiencing challenges related to availability of personal support workers," she said.
LeClerc was unavailable for an interview this week to talk more about those challenges, but in November she told CBC News that she knew of at least six other patients in the same situation as Benoit.
The LHIN has pegged the daily cost of Benoit's bed at $563, while the daily cost of home care is just $28 per day — although the level of care Benoit requires would likely be more expensive.
'This environment is killing me'
If she'd been discharged before Christmas, Benoit said she would have spent the holidays with her "fairly close-knit" group of neighbours and friends at her apartment complex.
Instead, she remains in her sparsely-decorated hospital room, one she's trying to keep that way so that it's easier to clean up once she's finally cleared to leave.
The minimalism is also a subtle sign, she added, that she doesn't belong there.
"It's just depressing," Benoit said. "Being stuck in this environment is killing me. I can see day-by-day that I'm deteriorating."
Benoit said she's told the LHIN she wants to be home by Jan. 17, in the hopes that a specific date will give them "enough time to arrange everything."
If it doesn't, Benoit said she's prepared to go further.
"I've also mentioned that this could possibly be a human rights issue — which I will be exploring, if they don't get me out of here."