Advocacy groups won't appeal Ontario court's dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law
Advocacy organizations won't appeal an Ontario court's decision to dismiss their Charter challenge of the province's long-term care (LTC) law, which allows hospitals to move people into homes they didn't choose or be charged $400 a day to remain in hospital.
The case, launched by the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) and the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), was heard in the Superior Court of Justice in September.
The two parties argued Bill 7, the More Beds, Better Care Act, — which was passed in 2022 — violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms so the law should be overturned. The provincial government, however, maintains the law is necessary to free up much-needed hospital beds.
In mid-January, the court sided with the province and decided to dismiss the case.
In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra said OHC can't afford the legal costs to appeal.
The OHC is paying the majority of legal fees in this case, of "close to $200,000," according to Mehra. She said they're still fundraising to pay it off.
She also said an appeal is always challenging to win.
"It's very disappointing and really heartbreaking," Mehra said.
"We know that patients really are suffering as a result of the coercion, trying to find somewhere to move from hospital into a long-term care home that is a decent home, that provides the care that they need, that is close to loved ones."
In the published decision from January, Justice Robert Centa said the law doesn't contravene the Charter. The bill "does not interfere with an ALC [alternate level of care] patient's 'right' to choose where they live," and the $400 daily charge for a continued hospital stay is "not coercive," Centa wrote.
Instead, Bill 7 has a "sufficiently important objective," the justice added.
"I found that the purpose of Bill 7 is to reduce the number of ALC patients in hospital who are eligible for admission to a long-term care home in order to maximize hospital resources for patients who need hospital-level care."
Mehra said ACE and the OHC were "shocked" by the ruling, especially the idea that a $400 daily charge isn't coercive.
"These are elderly patients, they're on fixed incomes, $400 a day is $12,000 a month — that is beyond the means of the vast majority of people in Ontario. It really means that they don't have a choice in our view."
An Ontario patient charged $26K under legislation
Since the law was implemented in 2022, CBC News has spoken with people who were impacted, including Michele Campeau, whose elderly mom was charged $26,000 under the legislation last year. Campeau had refused to move her mom out of a Windsor hospital and into a long-term care home the family didn't want.
CBC News reached out this week to Campeau for comment, but hasn't heard back. When she last spoke to CBC News in January, Campeau said she wasn't planning to pay the fee and didn't agree with the court ruling.
Patients, their caregivers and seniors advocates have said the law is unfair and doesn't give elderly people, who might be in their final stage of life, the right to choose where they want to live.
But health-care leaders who provided expert evidence during the court case have said the law helps free up hospital beds for people who need them.
A spokesperson for Ontario's minister of health previously told CBC News the law "ensures people across the province receive the care they need, in a setting that is right for them."
"It frees up hospital beds so that people waiting for surgeries can get them sooner. It eases pressures on crowded emergency departments by admitting patients sooner and it connects more people to the care they need when they need it."
'Ramp up our fight'
Despite the OHC's decision, Mehra said they're not giving up.
She said they will continue to advocate for patients and "ramp up our fight" to get the province to prioritize the rights of elderly patients.
Beyond overturning the law, she said, they'll advocate for the government to improve home care, increase capacity in hospitals and LTC homes, and move forward with building new and modern homes that people want to live in.
"The fact that the solution has been to target patients rather than to deal with the capacity issues in our health system ... it's wrong, it's morally wrong, to treat people at the end of their lives in that way," she said.
"We have to fight with everything we have to force political change."
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