CALGARY – A Calgary lawyer is hoping the short life of Baby Hermella Mammo will inspire new legislation in Alberta. Last month, Mammo’s parents went to court to fight to keep the little girl on life support after doctors at Alberta Children’s Hospital advised them that life support was going to be withdrawn. A judge granted the parents a temporary injunction, adjourning the case until Jan. 4, 2016 but on Dec. 20, Mammo passed away.
“The issues that have come to light in this case is that Alberta Health Services and the physicians tied in with this case take the position that they do not require consent from parents or from a substitute decision maker with withdrawing life support from a patient,” Brendan Miller, lawyer for the Mammo family said.
Miller would like to see the province introduce legislation similar to Ontario’s Health Care Consent Act, which refers disputes between parents and doctors to a panel of experts for appeal.
“In Alberta we don’t have anything like that. (Doctors and parents) try to come to a consensus and if they can’t – as it happened in this case – doctors simply send parents a letter saying they’re withdrawing life support on a certain date. You shouldn’t be able to do that as far as I’m concerned. One, it’s unconstitutional and two it doesn’t accord with the common law.”
University of Manitoba ethicist, Arthur Schafer disagrees more legislation is necessary to resolve disputes between doctors and parents related to consent.
“Life support isn’t neutral, it’s not pleasant. It can involve shocks or physical assault on a frail elderly person or on a very vulnerable baby, and doctors are reluctant to impose life support with all its pain and distress unless there’s some possibility of benefit.”
Schafer says provincial regulatory bodies like Alberta’s College of Physicians and Surgeons require doctors respect the wishes of parents with regards to medical care unless they believe the kind of treatment on which the parents are insisting will actually harm the child or cause distress without purpose.
“Ultimately if cases can’t be resolved by discussion they get referred to the courts and that seems to work fine.”
Miller says he fears families will choose not to fight if the courts are their only option. To those families, he says there are people willing to help.
“If people are in this situation, there are lawyers and other legal professionals who, even if you don’t have the financial means to assist yourself, will come forward to assist you because it’s the right thing to do.”
A spokesperson for the Open Arms Patient Advocacy group, the organization that provided the Mammo family with media and legal assistance says they support Miller’s call for legislative changes.
“The Mammo family was not our first case where the family was opposed to removing life support. In fact, over the years we have encountered several of these cases, including some current cases. The legislation needs to be adapted to provide for the needs of families in these difficult situations,” Chairperson Tianna Melnyk said in a written statement to Global News.
Global News reached out to both Alberta Health Services and Alberta Justice for comment. An AHS spokesperson said due to patient confidentiality, AHS cannot comment further on this case. Nobody from Alberta Justice was available for an interview.
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