Home care policy 'makes no sense,' says Lorraine Michael

The NDP health critic says the province's home care policy "doesn't make sense."

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Lorraine Michael said a situation like Rodney Miller's, who quit his job to care for his terminally ill wife, serves as a prime example of how people get "shut out from every angle."

How we allow the rules to dictate that nothing can be done, that's not acceptable.- Lorraine Michael

Michael said she's seen cases like this before, and government policy is to blame.

"What Mr. Miller is going through is abhorrent really, and I think somebody has to try to cut through red tape," Michael told CBC's St. John's Morning Show.

"This is the other thing I don't understand, how we allow the rules to dictate that nothing can be done. That's not acceptable."

'Absolutely unacceptable'

Michael said the government policy is based on the marriage vow — to care for each other through sickness and health.

It doesn't account for the current social and economic conditions in the province, Michael said.

"It makes no sense whatsoever … looking at our situation here in Newfoundland and Labrador, where so many children, adult children, no longer live in the province — or even in the community with their parents," she said.

"Government has to look at the fact that they've put a real barrier in the way of a couple trying to keep the sick person at home … it's absolutely unacceptable."

Aging population

With an aging population and an increasing number of patients with complex medical problems, Michael said the future for home care looks grim.

Michael, who said she knows first hand the strain of looking after a sick loved one, said Miller's wife should be eligible for full palliative care.

However, those services may not even be available to them in Port Rexton.

Michael said a "real home care program" and better palliative care services are needed throughout the province.

"We have a terrible situation here in the province right now with regard to families who have chronic and terminal illnesses," she said.

"The time allotment of when somebody can get palliative care, how long they can get it and get it covered is, I think, too limiting."