Life Support Issue Goes to Supreme Court
An important decision will be coming out soon in an attempt to resolve the debate about whether doctors need approval from the family before removing a patient from life support. The Supreme Court of Canada is set to hear a case where the wishes of a family of a patient in a coma are opposed to his doctors' opinion about his prognosis. The Ontario Court of Appeal found that the patient's doctors can take him off of life support without his family's permission only if the Ontario Consent and Capacity Board approves of the decision. The patient's wife, who is his Power of Attorney, believes that his condition is improving and says that removing his ventilator would violate his religious beliefs. His doctors argue that they should have the right to determine whether medical intervention is working, and they should not require the family's consent to remove a patient from life support.
Under the Ontario Health Care Consent Act, the Board can make a decision about a patient's care when a subsititute decision maker does not agree with the doctor's advice. Hopefully this case will give clarity to the legal confusion that has caused end of life decisions to be decided in a court room.
Please join us at our Breakfast Series event on January 19, 2012 at 8:30 a.m. at the Ontario Bar Association Conference Centre located at 200-20 Toronto Street, Toronto, Ontario.
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