Disease. Starvation. Staff walkouts. Since the pandemic started, more than 2,000 residents in Ontario's seniors' homes have been left to die alone and afraid. But the problem with our long-term care dates back more than 30 years. We should have seen this crisis coming By the time Bob Thoms, a retired engineer, entered long-term care, he had already experienced a series of harrowing health crises. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in his late 50s, then lymphoma a few months later. In the wake of chemotherapy, his cognitive abilities began to deteriorate. Doctors chalked it up to “chemo brain.” “He just wasn't him anymore,” his younger brother, Bill, says. Around the same time, undergoing surgery for a perforated ulcer, Bob flatlined on the operating table and was technically dead for six minutes.