Readers in Ontario are likely familiar with Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer, a former registered nurse, who confessed to murdering eight senior citizens and attempting to murder six others in southwestern Ontario long term care (LTC) homes between 2007 and 2016. Following her criminal conviction, the province of Ontario established a…
The Income Tax Act (“ITA”) generally permits as an eligible medical expense of an individual, an amount paid to a medical practitioner, dentist, or nurse or a public or licensed private hospital for medical or dental services provided to a patient. Medical services are diagnostic, therapeutic or rehabilitative services that…
In Ontario, a power of attorney for personal care is defined in the Substitute Decisions Act (SDA) and allows the appointed attorney to act as the substitute decision maker (SDM) for an incapable person. The appointed attorney is given the authority to make decisions such as: medical treatments, admission to…
Experts giving evidence in an Ontario court are obliged to sign an acknowledgement that they are independent, with their obligation being to the court and not to the party who retained them. Nonetheless, scepticism regarding objectiveness and discrepancies between expert opinions remains, as demonstrated in the reasons of Justice Mesbur…
The news flash is that our healthcare system is about to be revamped. It was announced that six agencies including Cancer Care Ontario, ehealth Ontario, Trillium Gift of Life Network, Health Shared Services, Health Quality Ontario and Healthforce Ontario Marketing and Recruitment Agency will be consolidated under a new umbrella…
Health Quality Ontario, in collaboration with clinical experts, patients, residents, and caregivers across the province, is developing quality standards for care providers in Ontario. I participated in developing the quality standard: Behavioural Symptoms of Dementia: Care for Patients in Hospitals and Residents in Long-Term Care Homes. This quality standard focuses…
Audrey Parker, a terminally ill woman living in Nova Scotia, ended her life with medical assistance earlier this month after issuing a final deathbed plea asking lawmakers to loosen some of the restrictions embedded in Canada’s assisted dying law.[i] Parker stressed that the law had to be changed because anyone…
