On December 24th our legal counsel, Hugh Scher, obtained intervenor status in the case of an 81 year old woman in Toronto who is being denied life-sustaining medical care. This was a significant achievement for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

The Attorney General of Ontario has also received intervenor status in this case turning this case into a “David and Goliath” situation.

The case is about Joyce Holland who has Alzheimer’s disease. Mrs. Holland is incompetent to make medical decisions for herself but had legally assigned Power of Attorney for Personal Care to her daughters.

Mrs. Holland stated to her daughters that she wished to receive life-sustaining medical treatment until her natural death. Her daughters have defended her wishes and asked that all medical care be continued for their mother.

The medical team are convinced that, due to the condition of Mrs. Holland, providing life-sustaining medical care for her is futile and creates unnecessary suffering.

The hospital received a legal order in October, 2003, allowing them to override the medical decisions of Mrs. Holland’s daughters, who have power of attorney for personal care and who seek to fulfill the previously expressed wishes of their mother.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has intervened in this case because we are concerned about the legal precedents that this case will establish, and to defend the rights of Joyce Holland. We believe that:
• The previously expressed wishes of a person to receive medical care until natural death should be respected.
• The person who has been chosen as an attorney for personal care is the best person to make life and death medical decisions.
• The decision to overturn the wishes of Mrs. Holland were based on an erroneous and stereotypical view of Mrs. Holland’s condition.
• There should be a legal presumption in favour of life and the security of the person with regards to life-sustaining medical decisions.
• Physicians should not be given the right to overturn the decisions of a legally assigned attorney for personal care when the decision may result in the death of the person.
• Physicians are not moral arbiters of life and death decisions and should not have the ultimate right to decide medical care decisions.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has already incurred significant expense in obtaining intervenor status. We are committed to two days of trial in Toronto. We have consulted experts across Canada, and we have mounted an excellent intervention in spite of the fact that we are up against the Attorney General of Ontario and a respected hospital in Toronto.

We are thankful for the many people who have already donated toward our intervention but we are dependant on your support at this time.

If you would like to donate towards the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition’s intervention in the Holland case, contact:
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Box 25033
London ON N6C 6A8
or call toll free: 1-877-439-3348

Alex Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention