Various Ontario courts have been to decide for three years who gets to decide when to withdraw life support from a patient. The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in October puts paid to the question for now, but the High Court decision was itself limited to Ontario, and failed to address the larger ethical questions of who has the final say.
The case in question pitted the family of Hassan Rasouli against the doctors of Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. Rasouli had fallen into a coma days after an operation for a brain tumour in 2010. His doctors, proclaiming him severely brain-damaged with a poor prognosis for a meaningful recovery, announced they would withdraw life support. Rasouli’s wife, Parichehr Salasel, is a medical doctor who refused to consent to ending life support. She maintained that he was responsive and had at least minimal consciousness.
Mark Handelman, of Whaley Estate Litigation, takes an in-depth look at the case, and what the Supreme Court actually said in its ruling. Full disclosure: Handelman litigated or adjudicated some of the cases he refers to in this paper, and was co-counsel to the Intervener when the Rasouli case was in the Court of Appeal.
See Consent to Withdrawal of Life Support: What the Supreme Court Said In Cuthbertson and Rubenfeld v. Rasouli for the full article.