Rasouli v. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre et al., 2011 ONCA 482
| Judge | Doherty, Moldaver and Simmons, JJ.A. |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Ontario) |
| Case Date | May 18, 2011 |
| Jurisdiction | Ontario |
| Citations | 2011 ONCA 482;(2011), 281 O.A.C. 183 (CA) |
Rasouli v. Health Sciences Centre (2011), 281 O.A.C. 183 (CA)
MLB headnote and full text
Temp. Cite: [2011] O.A.C. TBEd. JL.002
Hassan Rasouli, by his litigation guardian and substitute decision maker, Parichehr Salasel (applicant/respondent) v. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Dr. Brian Cuthbertson and Dr. Gordon Rubenfeld (respondents/appellants)
Dr. Brian Cuthbertson and Dr. Gordon Rubenfeld (applicants/appellants) v. Hassan Rasouli, by his litigation guardian and substitute decision maker, Parichehr Salasel (respondents/respondents)
(C53442; 2011 ONCA 482)
Indexed As: Rasouli v. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre et al.
Ontario Court of Appeal
Doherty, Moldaver and Simmons, JJ.A.
June 29, 2011.
Summary:
A hospital patient (husband) went into a permanent vegetative state following surgery to remove a benign brain tumour, and was placed on life support. His doctors sought to take him off life support and place him on end-of-life palliative care. The patient's wife, who was his substitute decision-maker under the Health Care Consent Act, disagreed and argued that the doctors required her consent. The wife applied for an order restraining the doctors from taking her husband off life support and an order that the doctors refer their treatment proposal to the Consent and Capacity Board. The doctors cross-applied, seeking to be allowed to take the husband off life support without his wife's consent.
The Ontario Superior Court, in a decision reported [2011] O.T.C. Uned. 1500, found in favour of the wife and against the doctors. The doctors appealed.
The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.
Medicine - Topic 3004
Relation with patient - General - Non-resuscitation, termination of life support and personal directives - [See Persons of Unsound Mind - Topic 1434 ].
Medicine - Topic 3047
Relation with patient - Consent to treatment - Withholding of consent - [See Persons of Unsound Mind - Topic 1434 ].
Persons of Unsound Mind - Topic 1434
Treatment - Consent - Substitute decision maker - Withholding of treatment (incl. withdrawal of life support) - A wife, who was her husband's substitute decision-maker under the Health Care Consent Act, applied for an order preventing two doctors from taking him off life support and placing him on end-of-life palliative care - The doctors cross-applied for declaratory relief allowing them to remove life support - An applications judge found in favour of the wife - The doctors appealed - The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal - The doctors' proposal to withdraw life support and place him on end-of-life palliative care constituted "treatment" under the Act, for which the wife's (i.e., substitute decision maker's) consent was required - If her consent was not forthcoming, the doctors' proposal had to be referred to the Consent and Capacity Board - See paragraphs 1 to 65.
Words and Phrases
Treatment - The Ontario Court of Appeal held that taking a patient off life support and putting them on end-of-life palliative care constituted "treatment" within the meaning of the Health Care Consent Act, S.O. 1996, c. 2 - See paragraphs 1 to 65.
Cases Noticed:
A.M. et al. v. Benes (1999), 126 O.A.C. 216; 46 O.R.(3d) 271 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 36].
Statutes Noticed:
Health Care Consent Act, S.O. 1996, c. 2, sect. 1(a), sect. 1(b), sect. 1(e), sect. 2(1), sect. 2(2), sect. 10(1), sect. 21(1), sect. 21(2), sect. 37 [para. 19].
Counsel:
Harry Underwood and Andrew McCutcheon, for the appellants, Dr. Cuthbertson and Dr. Rubenfeld;
J. Gardner Hodder and Guillermo Schible, for the respondent, Hassan Rasouli;
Hugh Scher and Mark Handelman, for the intervenor, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
This appeal was heard May 18, 2011, before Doherty, Moldaver and Simmons, JJ.A., of the Ontario Court of Appeal. The following decision was delivered by Moldaver and Simmons, JJ.A. (Doherty, J.A., concurring) on June 29, 2011.
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