Native of Sri Lanka had been on no-treatment regimen at hospital
A pastor who had been at the center of a fight over whether seriously injured patients deserve food and water while hospitalized has suffered a seizure and died, officials confirmed.
Joshua Kulendran Mayandy arrived in Canada about 10 years ago to serve ethnic Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka near the East York area of Ontario.
He had complained of chest pains and was hospitalized in Brampton after collapsing with a heart attack May 29.
He was revived but suffered what had been termed brain impairment due to lack of oxygen. He was placed in the intensive care unit where he regained consciousness. An eyewitness said Mayandy continued to improve, regaining some movement of his arms and legs, and even speaking some words.
Read WorldNetDaily's unparalleled, in-depth coverage of the life-and-death fight over Terri Schiavo, including over 150 original stories and columns.
But the staff at Brampton Civic Hospital, part of the William Osler Health Center, disagreed with the assessment of Mayandy's health, asserting there was no hope of recovery.
In Ontario, disagreements over the condition of a patient between families and doctors requires the intervention of a "Consent and Capacity Board."
The board determines proper medical treatment for patients who cannot make decisions themselves.
The board ruled that since Mayandy's family was too far away, they could not understand his medical situation, and they appointed a close friend to be his "Strategic Decision Maker," or SDM.
After hearing from "all parties," the Capacity Board ruled that Brampton Hospital could remove all of Mayandy's life support, which officials proceeded to do on Aug. 17.
Even though eyewitnesses said Mayandy had regained consciousness and appeared to be recovering from both his heart attack and partial brain damage, he was not given food and water for more than a week.
Then his "SDM" had a change of heart, asking the hospital to feed him orally. A nurse, who also was a member of Mayandy's church, began to feed him even though Mayandy had a tracheotomy.
Hopes that Mayandy might recover were dashed when he suffered another seizure and slipped back into a coma about a week ago.
Since Mayandy no longer could be fed orally, little was done to help him. The hospital still was operating under the original order from the "Consent and Capacity Board" that ruled he never would recover. Thus, the hospital did not have to give him either a food tube or IV fluids.
WND requested from the hospital the official cause of death, but there was not an immediate response.
Dr. Bernard Stephenson, a friend of Mayandy's, has said the hospital only offered seizure medicine, but nothing else was required.
Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition pointed out that once the seizure had occurred, the damage probably was fatal.
However, Schadenberg also pointed out that prior to the seizure the hospital could have done several things to help Mayandy, including inserting a feeding tube and providing IV fluids.
Schadenberg said that Mayandy's Strategic Decision Maker never made that request to the hospital.
Stephenson added his concerns, saying that, "I hate to live in a society … almost a Hitlerian society where people with disabilities don't have a say or don't have any value any more. I think that's the kind of society I'm scared of living in and people need to know this is happening."
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is also urging Canadians to contact them about a document they believe can provide assistance should the circumstances of this type of case appear again.
Mark Handelman, an attorney for Brampton Civic Hospital, said the decision removing the food and water from the pastor was unanimous and denied that any pressure was applied to Mayandy's friend.
"Justice was seen, and justice was done," he said.
Schadenberg, however, points out that Ontario is "$20 billion in debt."
"There are unwritten rules. One of them is that long-term care is simply too costly," he said.
The issue of rationing health-care dollars has generated considerable alarm in the United States amid debate and enactment this year of President Obama's nationalization of health care decision-making.
Critics such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have cited Obamacare plans to cut $500 billion in health-care spending on seniors. Palin stirred controvesy by labeling the bureacratic process set up to allocate funds "death panels."
Obamacare critics have argued that the government will be forced to ration care because of budget constraints.
The Mayandy case recalls the high-profile life and death of Terri Schiavo, who died after being deprived of food and water in a Florida dispute that made headlines nationally.
Contact: Thom Redmond
Date Published: September 7, 2010
