...Malette v. Shulman et al. 72 O.R. (2d) 417 ONTARIO Court of Appeal Robins, Catzman and Carthy JJ.A. APPEAL by defendant physician and CROSS-APPEAL by plaintiff from a judgment of Donelly J., 63 O.R. (2d) 243, 47 D.L.R. (4th) 18, 43 C.C.L.T. 62, awarding the plaintiff damages against the physician for battery and dismissing the action against the hospital. The judgment of the court was delivered by ROBINS J.A.: The question to be decided in this appeal is whether a doctor is liable in law for administering blood transfusions to an unconscious patient in a potentially life-threatening situation when the patient is carrying a card stating that she is a Jehovah's Witness and, as a matter of religious belief, rejects blood transfusions under any circumstances.I In the early afternoon of June 30, 1979, Mrs. Georgette Malette, then age 57, was rushed, unconscious, by ambulance to the Kirkland and District Hospital in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. She had been in an accident. The car in which she was a passenger, driven by her husband, had collided head-on with a truck. Her husband had been killed. She suffered serious injuries. On arrival at the hospital, she was attended by Dr. David L. Shulman, a family physician practising in Kirkland Lake who served two or three shifts a week in the emergency department of the hospital and who was on duty at the time. Dr. Shulman's initial examination of Mrs. Malette showed, among other things, that she had severe...
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...Robin Cypress CWV 101 April 26, 2015 Professor Bob Greene Abortion – From A Christian’s Perspective The ability to bring a life into the world after having carried and nurtured it in your womb for a woman is considered a gift and blessing to most, however there are times when the decision to bring a life into the world is clouded by another issue such as rape or fetal abnormalities at which point it becomes an ethical dilemma as to whether to bring that life into the world or to end the pregnancy and the life of the child. This paper will address the ethical dilemma, core beliefs, resolution, evaluation and comparison from the Christian perspective that should be considered during this process. Living life is a gift that God has given each of us and regardless of the circumstances to how we came here or what will be faced along our journey, until God decides to end it, He is the only one who should be capable of making that choice. Ethical Dilemma From the moment that a pregnancy is confirmed, feeling of the first movements, hearing the heartbeat, seeing them waving from the sonogram, to the actual birth, bringing a child into the world for many is an exceptional experience. It is not until you are faced with the possibility that something is wrong with the child such as a lifelong medical condition that you face a difficult decision as to whether to keep the child or terminate the pregnancy. For some the decision is an easy one because they feel within...
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