HSH Partner Melissa Miller recently spoke to NEWSTALK 1010’s Reshmi Nair and Scott MacArthur about the provincial government’s planned amendments to long-term care legislation that will authorize the admission of patients in hospital to long-term care facilities without the consent of the patient or their family.
Noting that the legislation is “terrifying” and “unbelievable” Melissa expressed her deep concerns that Bill 7 upends the concepts of patient consent and privacy that underlie the Canadian health care system, and she predicted that the new rules would lead to court injunctions and human rights complaints. Melissa also explained that while it is unlikely that patients would be forcefully removed from a hospital, the legislation allows uncooperative patients to be charged the ‘uninsured’ fee rate for their hospital beds, which could reach $1,500 per day, thus forcing patients to comply with forced admissions to LTC facilities for financial reasons.
Please visit the NEWSTALK 1010 website to listen to Melissa’s interview.
