Disabled Canadian man says hospital repeatedly offered assisted death as he fought for care to stay alive

A Canadian man battling a debilitating neurological disease told Fox News Digital that hospital staff repeatedly raised the possibility of medically assisted death while he was fighting for the home care he says he needs to survive.

Roger Foley, who has spinocerebellar ataxia, told Fox News Digital in a recent interview that the conversations began in 2016 at Victoria Hospital, part of the London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, where he says he has remained hospitalized for years while seeking a self-directed home-care arrangement.

In a July 7, 2026, letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Foley's attending physician said he could safely leave the hospital if the Ontario government authorized an individualized home-care arrangement.

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"By any reasonable clinical standard, you could be discharged from our hospital if you had adequate support at home," wrote Dr. George K. Dresser, an attending internal medicine physician at London Health Sciences Centre.

Dresser said Foley has been medically stable for much of his prolonged hospitalization, despite suffering hospital-acquired infections, and argued that conventional home-care programs have failed to accommodate his complex medical needs.

"You have been at London Health Sciences Centre because the unique needs that you have cannot be met by existing programs in the community," the physician wrote.

Dresser described Foley as "a square peg in a round hole," arguing that the hospital's standardized approach to care is poorly suited to a patient who requires consistent caregivers and highly individualized assistance.

The physician also suggested that keeping Foley hospitalized may be unnecessarily expensive for Ontario's healthcare system.

"A community-based, self-directed arrangement would in all likelihood cost substantially less than continued acute admission, while delivering far better-matched care," Dresser wrote.

He urged Ontario's Ministry of Health to authorize funding that would allow Foley to recruit, train and manage his own personal support workers, potentially ending his yearslong hospitalization.

Foley alleged that assisted dying was raised again during a disputed discharge process in 2017, when he says he was threatened with daily hospital charges of approximately $1,500 if he did not accept the care arrangements being offered.

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"I don't want to die," Foley told Fox News Digital, describing his determination to return to his apartment with caregivers of his choosing.

Foley also alleged that the hospital removed lighting accommodations for his neurological condition in May 2025, making it difficult for him to receive care and consume food and fluids.

Foley said the lighting dispute is particularly serious because his neurological condition makes him sensitive to certain wavelengt