When making healthcare decisions for our incapable loved ones, many are likely not keeping in mind the rules pertaining to substitute treatment decisions. Such disregard are partially due to urgent and emotional situations, such as where there is a lack of ventilators due to the COVID-19 crisis. Also, many are not aware of what the […]
Tag: Life Support
PBP Lawyers participated in a consultation session with the Law Commission of Ontario on its “Improving the Last Stages of Life” project. This project considers how the law impacts the rights and choices for persons who are dying and their caregivers. The Law Commission is conducting consultations throughout the province in order to better identify […]
Mercedes successfully represented the parents of a six year older boy on life support at the Hospital for Sick Children. The hospital sought to remove the boy from a life support system called ECMO, a decision his parents opposed. The Consent and Capacity Board agreed with Mercedes that the parents were making treatment decisions in […]
Mercedes successfully represented the appellant before the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board in an appeal of a CPSO decision. The CPSO had determined that the physicians had not breached the standard of care in unilaterally placing a “Do Not Resuscitate” order in a patient’s chart without consent. The physicians had unilaterally determined that resuscitation […]
Mercedes spoke on “Powers of Attorney for Personal Care and End of Life Issues” at the 2014 Law Society of Upper Canada’s Six-Minute Estates Lawyer conference. […]
Mercedes was co-counsel to the interveners Mental Health Legal Committee and the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario in a life support case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. In Cuthbertson v. Rasouli, a majority of the Supreme Court agreed that end of life treatment decisions require consent and life support cannot be terminated […]
Mercedes was a guest speaker at an Ontario Bar Association conference titled “The Other Side of the Coin: Personal Care and the Estate Lawyer”. Mercedes spoke on “When Matters Get Complicated: Litigating Personal Care Disputes” with lawyer D’Arcy Hiltz. Read the program agenda here. […]
Alex was successful in seeking the removal of counsel appointed for an incapable person in an end-of-life case at the Consent and Capacity Board. The lawyer, who was appointed for a non-communicating senior, had put forward a personal opinion on the issues in dispute. The Board agreed that it was inappropriate to take a position […]
Mercedes successfully represented the three children of an elderly Orthodox Jewish woman in a coma at the Baycrest Hospital in a challenge to her power of attorney for personal care document. The woman had appointed her three children as her attorneys for personal care. The power of attorney document was boilerplate and contained an “end […]