Family Travels Abroad to Seek Death With Dignity

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Tuesday, 21 February 2017 06:56

(Photo Courtesy Erin Schreurs) John Schreurs with his wife Erin and their daughter Caitlin during a family trip to Ottawa in 2013.

A family from Innerkip is sharing their story after a man travelled to Switzerland to seek a dignified death

An Innerkip widow is speaking out against Canada's current law surrounding doctor assisted dying.

Erin Schreurs husband John Schreurs suffered from Huntington's disease, an inherited disorder that kills brain cells, and can result in symptoms similar to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Schizophrenia. When John's symptoms began about 6 years ago the Schreurs family knew what was happening because John's mother died from Huntington's in the years prior.

Specific Huntington's symptoms are based on how it manifests in the body - John experienced tremors in his hands and legs, slurred speech, and had a very apathetic view on life. The disease also prevented him from being able to focus on more than one thing at a time. February 2015 he had to fully retire after dedicating eight years of his life to the Innerkip Fire Department. The tremors in his legs also resulted in the loss of his driver's licence.

Current Canadian law excludes those diagnosed with Huntington's when it comes to doctor assisted death, stating you must be mentally competent and have a reasonably foreseeable death.

In late May 2016 John stopped eating and drinking and was admitted to Sakura House, where he was refused palliative sedation. After 14 days John started eating again and was moved to Woodstock General Hospital.

Erin and John flew to Switzerland with their children Caitlin and Ryan during Labour Day weekend. They sought help from the non-profit organization Dignitas, which provides doctor assisted death to terminally ill patients.

"He needed a way out that was dignified, that was controlled, that was obviously his decision that nobody else had to have any kind of play in it," Erin Schruers says. "That is what the government didn't give him."

John passed away on September 8th 2016 at the age of 54.

Erin wants people to put a face to the situation.

"I want people to realize this very much could be anybody in the years to come. We are a population with all kinds of incurable, neurological, inoperable diseases. This needs to be another tool that you have access to if it is what you want to happen to you."

She says there are people out there who could be abused by doctor assisted death and believes those people should be protected, but she doesn't want the potential benefit of doctor assisted death to be blocked out to those who want it.

Erin tells Heart FM she will be getting in touch with Oxford MP Dave MacKenzie in the near future now that the government is conducting another study around doctor assisted death. She says the law needs an advanced directive.

"If they allowed an advanced directive John could very well still be here and be here for another year, two years, or whatever that may be. That advanced directive would have allowed him to say, 'Okay when I meet these parameters I want assisted death and I want it then.' He couldn't do that, he had to do it while he had competency, which was now."