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PrintWinnipeg life-support case ordered to trial
An Orthodox family’s fight to keep their 84-year-old father on life support against the wishes of a Winnipeg hospital will go to trial.
Winnipeg judge Perry Schulman ruled Wednesday that, under current Canadian law, doctors should not have “the final say” and ordered the case to trial.
In the meantime, Samuel Golubchuk, an Orthodox Jew, will remain on life support at Grace Hospital, connected to a feeding tube and ventilator he has needed since November. At the time, doctors decided to remove the patient from life suport, against the wishes of the family, who got an injunction from Schulman to prevent the action.
Doctors say Golubchuk has minimal brain function and that his chances for recovery are slim.
But his adult children argue that taking their father off of life support goes against their faith. They say hastening their father’s death is a violation of Orthodox Jewish law.
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