‘They wanted to euthanize me': Paramedic’s harrowing COVID vaccine testimony stuns Inquiry panel — Transcript

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1. 0:00Being a first-responder, I was one of
2. 0:01the first wave to go get the vaccine.
3. 0:03Within hours, I had flu-like symptoms.
4. 0:05Woke up the next morning in excruciating
5. 0:08pain. Severe pain um to my back, down to
6. 0:11my legs, and I knew something was wrong.
7. 0:13I went to the hospital and they took me
8. 0:14straight back to a room. I lost all
9. 0:16sensation into my groin, my inner
10. 0:18thighs, and I started having overflow
11. 0:20urinary incontinence. And I met with the
12. 0:22spinal surgeon. They made me walk out of
13. 0:24the emergency department and I clearly
14. 0:26remember collapsing on the floor. Um and
15. 0:29the emergency didn't do anything about
16. 0:30it. And at this moment, instead of
17. 0:32helping me,
18. 0:34they brought in a psychologist to talk
19. 0:35to me about MAID, medical assistance in
20. 0:38dying. I was admitted for pain crisis on
21. 0:41heavy-duty narcotics, and I was asking
22. 0:43for help, and instead they offered to
23. 0:45euthanize me. That moment broke me. That
24. 0:48was the moment that any faith in the
25. 0:51medical system that I so proudly served
26. 0:54for years was gone.
27. 0:56>> So, our next witness
28. 0:58is Jamie Daniel. Can you tell us about
29. 1:01your journey with these vaccines?
30. 1:02>> Being a first-responder,
31. 1:04I was one of the first waves of people
32. 1:06chosen to go get the vaccine, and I was
33. 1:09excited. I was over the moon excited
34. 1:12that I could go and do this service for
35. 1:14my country, get the vaccine that we'd
36. 1:17been told had been very similar, it's
37. 1:19been studied, it's safe, it's effective.
38. 1:21And as a healthcare practitioner, I
39. 1:22worked with people who are high risk. We
40. 1:24have high risk members of our family,
41. 1:26and this is something I could do to
42. 1:27help.
43. 1:29And I was so excited to go get that
44. 1:30vaccine, and I went. I have a picture of
45. 1:32me smiling at the vaccine clinic being
46. 1:34like, "Yes, everybody go get your
47. 1:35vaccine. Vaccines save lives." Because
48. 1:37they do. But this is not a vaccine. This
49. 1:39is something completely different. Um
50. 1:42within hours, I had flu-like symptoms.
51. 1:45Um
52. 1:45I was in bed.
53. 1:47Um I remember clearly with a bucket cuz
54. 1:49I was nauseous, I was throwing up, I had
55. 1:51fevers and chills. I just felt generally
56. 1:53unwell. Um flu-like symptoms, normal
57. 1:56vaccine. Um
58. 1:58I chose not to take any Advil Tylenol at
59. 2:00that time because my knowledge knew is
60. 2:02that's the immune response. This is
61. 2:04what's supposed to be happening. Um went
62. 2:06to bed that night, very uncomfortable.
63. 2:08Woke up the next morning in excruciating
64. 2:10pain. Severe pain um to my back down to
65. 2:13my legs. Some weakness. Um so I knew
66. 2:16something was wrong. I had medical
67. 2:19knowledge. I could tell this was
68. 2:20presenting like a severe spinal cord
69. 2:22injury. I was so weak and in so much
70. 2:24pain I was literally crawling across the
71. 2:26floor to get out of the house. I needed
72. 2:29a wheelchair once we got to the
73. 2:30emergency department.
74. 2:32And they took me straight back to a room
75. 2:33because it did present like a severe
76. 2:35spinal cord injury. I lost all sensation
77. 2:37into my groin, my inner thighs. Um still
78. 2:41with the extreme pain and I started
79. 2:42having overflow urinary incontinence. I
80. 2:44could not feel when I needed to void, so
81. 2:47I did not void, so then it would
82. 2:49overflow.
83. 2:50Um they took imaging at the hospital but
84. 2:53determined that it was most likely
85. 2:54surgical, um something called cauda
86. 2:56equina. So they transferred me to a
87. 2:59different hospital via ambulance, my
88. 3:01worst nightmare.
89. 3:02Um to a different hospital so I can meet
90. 3:05with the spinal surgery team.
91. 3:07Once I got there, they finally had my
92. 3:08imaging results and I met with the
93. 3:11spinal surgeon and he said that there
94. 3:14was nothing obvious on my MRI.
95. 3:17That it was probably just a bad day.
96. 3:21Um
97. 3:22They made me walk out of the emergency
98. 3:24department and I clearly remember
99. 3:26collapsing on the floor. Um and the
100. 3:28emergency didn't do anything about it,
101. 3:30but security eventually brought me a
102. 3:31wheelchair to wheel me to the front door
103. 3:34for my husband to pick me up. So I went
104. 3:35home um and I ended up presenting I
105. 3:38can't remember if it was two or three
106. 3:39more times to the emergency department.
107. 3:41Um
108. 3:42I was called a drug seeker. I was told I
109. 3:45was having anxiety. Um
110. 3:47I was told it was my rheumatoid
111. 3:49arthritis, but none of these symptoms
112. 3:51were any of those things.
113. 3:53Eventually I got admitted not due to the
114. 3:55severe pain, but because I was peeing
115. 3:57myself. And I got belittled in the
116. 4:00emergency department by several health
117. 4:02care members being like
118. 4:04"Why did you just pee the bed?"
119. 4:07"What What do you mean? Why did I pee
120. 4:10the bed? I have no sensation. I have no
121. 4:11control."
122. 4:12Um I ended up being admitted for a week.
123. 4:14I needed in and out catheterization.
124. 4:17I needed extensive bowel management to
125. 4:19be able to get my bowels to work again.
126. 4:22Um they did eventually treat my pain.
127. 4:25Um
128. 4:26there is a hush about "Maybe it's
129. 4:28transverse myelitis." But nobody would
130. 4:30ever come out and actually say that
131. 4:32while I was admitted.
132. 4:35They released me. I went back and looked
133. 4:37after our conversation of back pain
134. 4:40and urinary incontinence not yet
135. 4:41diagnosed.
136. 4:43That was my discharge papers.
137. 4:45Um luckily or unlikely, I had previously
138. 4:49had migraines, had been discharged from
139. 4:51neurology entirely cuz my migraines were
140. 4:53managed, but my neurologist had said,
141. 4:55"If anything ever comes up, call me."
142. 4:58And I knew that this was neurological,
143. 4:59so I called his office, and he got me in
144. 5:01as soon as he could. It was a month or
145. 5:04so. It was a while anyways.
146. 5:07Um but eventually
147. 5:09I remained off work. I had severe pain,
148. 5:11[snorts]
149. 5:12um fatigue,
150. 5:14overflow incontinence. I still had no
151. 5:15sensation to my bladder, but I could
152. 5:17manage it with 3-hour timed going to the
153. 5:20washroom.
154. 5:21Um I could barely walk a lot of days. I
155. 5:24was so fatigued I could barely get out
156. 5:25of bed.
157. 5:26But eventually I saw my neurologist, and
158. 5:28bless this man, as soon as he assessed
159. 5:30me, as soon as he went over my history,
160. 5:32it's like, "But this is transverse
161. 5:34myelitis."
162. 5:35I was like, "I know that." It's like,
163. 5:37"But why didn't they know that at the
164. 5:38hospital? There's other treatments we
165. 5:40could have given you
166. 5:41in the hospital for TM."
167. 5:44Because nobody wanted to associate it
168. 5:45with my vaccine. So, I was a first
169. 5:47responder, and even before the COVID
170. 5:49vaccine, I still had a diagnosis of
171. 5:51PTSD. Um but I was seeing a therapist
172. 5:54and working. I was functional. They had
173. 5:56no concerns about me continuing to serve
174. 5:58as an ACP.
175. 6:00Um
176. 6:02the medical gaslighting and
177. 6:06destruction that I went through with our
178. 6:08health care system
179. 6:10was horrific. It was nothing I could
180. 6:12have ever anticipated. I proudly served
181. 6:15our medical system and it abandoned me.
182. 6:19Um and there was exactly one moment that
183. 6:22every ounce of faith I had in the system
184. 6:25was destroyed. And it's also the moment
185. 6:27that my severe PTSD became such a
186. 6:30significant problem that I was partnered
187. 6:31with Kevin.
188. 6:33Um so I remained off work and about a
189. 6:34year and a bit after my initial injury
190. 6:37in June 2022,
191. 6:40um my infant had been hospitalized. Um
192. 6:43she almost died. She was in ICU. Um
193. 6:46when she got out of ICU between we she
194. 6:50had had a virus that also affects the
195. 6:52immune system, which is a known trigger
196. 6:54for relapses of transverse myelitis.
197. 6:57Um between the virus, the stress, the
198. 6:59physical task of being in ICU and in the
199. 7:01hospital for a week caring for her when
200. 7:03I have complex pain, emotional issues, I
201. 7:07myself ended up being readmitted to the
202. 7:08hospital for a week with a complete
203. 7:10relapse of my transverse myelitis.
204. 7:13Um my neurologist at the time was like,
205. 7:15"Absolutely. It is your a relapse of
206. 7:18your transverse myelitis. You need to go
207. 7:19get pain management and you need to go
208. 7:20get steroids." Um the first time I went
209. 7:23to the hospital, they agreed, but when
210. 7:25they call and my husband had had to go
211. 7:27out away away for town, so he was trying
212. 7:29to arrange a flight to come home to care
213. 7:31for our children. Um
214. 7:34The first time I went to the emergency
215. 7:35department, the emergency physician
216. 7:37agreed. Yeah, this sounds like TM.
217. 7:40We'll get everything sorted. Um they
218. 7:42sent a neurologist to consult on me who
219. 7:45was like, "No, absolutely not. She's a
220. 7:46drug seeker.
221. 7:48She's just here for pain management."
222. 7:50Yes, I'm here for pain management
223. 7:52because my neurologist told me to come
224. 7:54to the hospital for pain management and
225. 7:56steroids. Um and then at that point he
226. 7:59said, "And it's you know, she's a drug
227. 8:02seeker. It's probably not even her TM.
228. 8:05It's obviously her rheumatoid
229. 8:06arthritis."
230. 8:07Which is why I'm peeing myself, which is
231. 8:09why I have no sensation, which is why I
232. 8:11feel like there's an ice pick stuck in
233. 8:13my spine.
234. 8:14Um so I got sent home.
235. 8:16Luckily I had had an appointment with my
236. 8:18rheumatol- rheumatologist that week, um
237. 8:21and my husband basically again had to
238. 8:22carry me into that appointment. And she
239. 8:26looked at me and she was horrified.
240. 8:27She's She had never seen me like this.
241. 8:29She had never seen me in such
242. 8:31significant suffering, um that she
243. 8:33called the hospital.
244. 8:35Doctor to doctor immediately and was
245. 8:36like, "You will admit her. You will
246. 8:38treat her for pain, and you will get
247. 8:40this figured out."
248. 8:41Um so we went back to the hospital and
249. 8:44luckily I did get a bed. I got treated.
250. 8:46I got um admitted. They preferred a a
251. 8:49functional pain disorder
252. 8:51um instead of the transverse myelitis,
253. 8:53even though all of my other pro-
254. 8:55providers were like, "This is TM."
255. 8:57And I remember breaking down, crying
256. 8:59after all of this being happening. I was
257. 9:02crying and bawling to my team saying, "I
258. 9:04can't live like this anymore.
259. 9:06I can't live like this." I was not
260. 9:08suicidal. I was asking for help.
261. 9:11And at this moment, instead of helping
262. 9:13me,
263. 9:14they brought in a psychologist to talk
264. 9:16to me about MAID.
265. 9:17Medical assistance in dying.
266. 9:21I was
267. 9:22in my early 30s.
268. 9:23I had a baby at home that had just been
269. 9:25in ICU. I was barely out of the
270. 9:27postpartum period. And my hormones
271. 9:29hadn't settled. I was admitted for pain
272. 9:32crisis on heavy duty narcotics.
273. 9:35And I was asking for help, and instead
274. 9:37they offered to euthanize me.
275. 9:39That moment broke me.
276. 9:42It broke my husband. It broke my family.
277. 9:45That was the moment that any faith in
278. 9:48the medical system that I so proudly
279. 9:50served for years
280. 9:53was gone.
281. 9:54And then it just continued. Because
282. 9:56after that, I still had severe pain,
283. 9:58severe disability.
284. 10:01Um that was in summer 2022.
285. 10:03Um and then
286. 10:05I held out hope that maybe the
287. 10:07government
288. 10:09All my faith in the medical system was
289. 10:10gone.
290. 10:11All of my faith in, you know, even my my
291. 10:14co-workers, the people who
292. 10:17our friend group, the people who are
293. 10:19supposed to have me outside of my
294. 10:20husband, our immediate family, and a
295. 10:22handful of people. My faith in
296. 10:24everything was gone, but I held out
297. 10:25faith that the government
298. 10:27that they're like, "We got you."
299. 10:29If something goes wrong, we've got you.
300. 10:31>> Thank you
301. 10:32for sharing your experience.
302. 10:34Um
303. 10:36we have lost our way
304. 10:38in this society.
305. 10:40And I'm sorry that you have had to go
306. 10:42through what you've gone through. Um
307. 10:44it's important that voices like yours
308. 10:46don't get lost.
309. 10:48And what would you like to see happen
310. 10:52um as a result of this inquiry?
311. 10:55>> Transparency.
312. 10:57We need to talk about what happened.
313. 10:59People need to have their stories heard,
314. 11:02and we need to have checks and balances
315. 11:04in place to help people.
316. 11:06>> Once again, you know, I'm reminded of
317. 11:07that you was a first responder. We thank
318. 11:09you for the work that you do and have
319. 11:11done.
320. 11:12Uh you know, and that and having your
321. 11:13own community
322. 11:15you know, give you a hard time or turn
323. 11:16on you as well, and that that that's
324. 11:18that's troubling, but at at every level
325. 11:21compounds that as well. So, thank thank
326. 11:22you very much for coming and sharing
327. 11:25your story.