New Ontario nursing home law violates Charter, advocates allege in lawsuit | CBC News

Advocates allege in a lawsuit that a controversial Ontario long-term care law violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Ontario Health Coalition and the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly say the law that allows hospitals to charge discharged patients $400 a day if they do not move to a nursing home that’s not of their choosing violates patients’ rights to privacy and informed consent.

The government introduced and quickly passed Bill 7 last fall, allowing hospital placement co-ordinators to accept a spot in a long-term care home and share their health information without a patient’s approval.

Should patients refuse to move to that home, they could be fined $400 a day.

The law also allows patients to be sent to nursing homes up to 70 kilometres from their preferred spot in southern Ontario and up to 150 kilometres away in northern Ontario.

In an email to CBC News, spokesperson Jake Roseman said in the seven months since Bill 7 has been in effect, the Ministry of Long-Term Care has seen “significant improvement” in transitioning patients out of hospitals.

Roseman said the province saw over 7,600 patients transition from hospitals into LTC homes — an 18 per cent increase compared with the same time period last year. Additionally, Roseman said, it saw a 33 per cent reduction in the alternate level care to long-term care wait list.

“Our changes bring us in line with other provinces, which have had similar policies in place for decades,” Roseman wrote.

“We want to provide Ontarians with the right care in the right place, and this policy is helping discharged ALC patients find the right level of care for their needs.”