Ontario Ministry of Health reverses course on guardianship requirement for disabled woman with developmental disabilities who refuses medically assisted death
The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) announced that, effective April 22, 2014, any woman who is deemed eligible as a result of her own choice and in accordance with her will, by her physician, will not be forced to live under a “guardianship” or by court order, but instead will have the choice to medically assist her death, or even refuse life-prolonging treatment.
The change is one in a series of initiatives meant to reduce the burden of terminal illness on the state, while allowing more people to access palliative and hospice care.
The province will now allow more people to access palliative and hospice care, and will reduce the mandatory requirement that any woman “in her terminal illness, suffering from a terminal illness and/or whose health is declining due to a terminal illness” be confined to her home under a “guardianship.”
We applaud the government for their decision and hope that this will help save the lives of many more people whose lives are not worthy of living and who therefore need support to die with dignity.
“We applaud the government for their decision and hope that this will help save the lives of many more people whose lives are not worthy of living and who therefore need support to die with dignity,” said Dr. Howard Brown, executive director of Physicians for Life, who is on the case for the woman.
The Ontario government has been criticized for the way it has handled the issue of physician-assisted death as it relates to disabled and chronically ill individuals. In a recent article, Toronto Star writer Sarah Boesel argues that the current system of guardianship for those whose consent is required is cruel and dangerous. The problem is, the solution the government came up with is to deny her the option of consent and force her to die.
Despite the
