There is no doubt that receiving life support is
"treatment" as defined by Ontario's Health Care
Consent Act, (the "HCCA") and it requires consent.
What about the withdrawal of life support? Is the
withdrawal of life support "treatment", a medical
procedure necessitating consent?
In a recent case, Cuthbertson v.
Rasouli1, the Supreme Court of Canada,
ruled in a split 5-2 decision that the withdrawal of life support
is "treatment" for purposes of the HCCA and therefore,
consent is required.
Mr. Rasouli's physicians determined Mr. Rasouli should be
removed from life support as continued life support (on which he
had been since 2010) would be futile and may even be harmful.
Before becoming unable to make decisions, Mr. Rasouli had not
expressed whether or not he wished to be kept on life support.
Therefore, the physicians were obliged to seek Mr. Rasouli's
substitute decision maker's consent to the withdrawal. The
substitute decision maker, Mr. Rasouli's spouse, Ms.
