New Case - In re S.R.

On Friday, the Ontario CCB held a hearing in In re S.R.   On Monday, it released its written opinion, which I have posted here.  The CCB panel held that the S.R.'s surrogate, his mother, did not comply with the principles for substitute decision making set forth in the Ontario HCCA.  

S.R. is a 49-year-old patient at Trillium Health Centre.  He had spent 112 days in the ICU.  Among other things, he has had aspiration pneumonia, necrotic fingers and toes, and ulcers all over his body.  His regular nursing care, such as turning every two hours, clearly caused him pain.  

While this might have been a reasonably strong case based on a pure objective best interests test, what prompted the physician to file the Form G application was that the S.R.'s brother and sister reported that S.R. would not want the aggressive treatment.  

While the mother was the ranking surrogate, she did not contest the brother and sister's statement regarding the patient's values and beliefs.  Nor did she contest the overwhelming medical evidence of futility of continued treatment.  She just could not allow herself to abandon hope for her son's recovery.