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More Beds, Better Care Act to be challenged in court Monday
Posted: September 23, 2024
(September 23, 2024) By: CHCH News
The More Beds Better Care Act, also known as Bill 7, will be challenged in court Monday on if it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
A new charter challenge will put the controversial Ontario Law that requires hospitals to place patients ready to be discharged into long-term care homes not of their choosing, or they face a $400 a day charge if they refuse.
The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly and the Ontario Health Coalition argues the law violates Ontarians rights. The province disagrees.
The main item that will be addressed is if the law has fulfilled its purpose of improving the flow of patients.
Documents filed in court read that the two sides have reached different conclusions on the question.
The advocacy centre says that the law has not improved patient flow and has actually increased by 30 per cent since it took effect, calling for the law to be struck down.
The province says the increase is due to population growth and is not proof of the law’s ineffectiveness.
The organizations opposing the law also argue that the law targets seniors directly and violates their right to life, liberty and security.
Provincial lawyers argue that patients do not have a Charter right to live free of charge in a hospital after being discharged.
They also say the law does not discriminate on the basis of age or disability.
The opposition to the law also says that the $400 per day fine is “coercive” acting as a “deterrent” to patients in efforts to get them to agree to be moved to a home they didn’t choose.
Premier Doug Ford’s government fast-tracked Bill 7 through legislature in a span of days in September 2022, skipping public hearings.
The law allows hospital placement coordinators to choose a nursing home for a patient that a doctor deems requiring an “alternate level of care” without the patient’s consent.
Despite the back-and-forth from both sides, they do agree that there are not enough hospital or long-term care beds in Ontario.
Five people have been fined under Bill 7 as of April 2024.
The case will be before the courts Monday and Tuesday.
With files from The Canadian Press.
