In mid-December, I told readers about the saga of Samuel Golubchuk, a Winnipeg man whose family was fighting to keep him alive on life support. Mr. Golubchuk's doctors had deemed that he was beyond saving and told his family that his life support would be removed. The Golubchuk family went to court to seek an injunction preventing this removal. They were successful in obtaining an injuction, pending further review of the court.
On February 13, the Court of Queen's Bench in Manitoba upheld the injunction and directed the matter to trial "as soon as possible." See the Winnipeg Free Press' account here.
The issue seems to be who has the right to decide when to pull the proverbial plug: family members or the treating physician. Two weeks before the Court's decision, the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons had issued a new guidelines saying that the final decision to pull life support rests with the physician, but allows families a four-day window to seek counsel on their options (one of which includes seeking a court injunction). The College has said that it will not be reviewing those guidelines.
The decision makes clear that there is currently no law (at least not in Manitoba and definitely not in Alberta) that gives doctors the absolute final say in these matters, no matter what the doctors themselves might think.
Of course, much of this could be clarified if patients have a Personal Directive (AB) or Living Will or Health Care Directive that clearly indicates who they would like to have make these types of decisions on their behalf.
No doubt there will be much more to come as this matter winds its way through the courts.
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