Sinai Health Bioethics Grand Rounds: “And the pendulum swings again” – Interpreting the CPSO’s New Decision-Making for End-of-Life Care Policy

The decision to pursue resuscitative measures is complex. In 2015, the CPSO policy on end-of-life care stated that a physician could not unilaterally write a Do Not Resuscitate order. This effectively mandated that physicians offer CPR and other resuscitative measures to patients even when they thought doing so would be of no benefit. In 2023, the CPSO made significant changes to their policy to reflect the ruling from Wawrzyniak vs Livingstone. The revised policy states that physicians may make the decision to not offer resuscitative measures where they believe the risks of patient harm outweigh the potential benefits. In this presentation, we will review the policy changes, outline how the revised policy may be interpreted in clinical practice, and discuss potential challenging cases.

Speakers:
Dr. Henry Ajzenberg, MD, MHSc(c) | University of Toronto | Emergency Medicine
Eoin Connolly, MA | Sinai Health | Bioethics

Learning objectives:
1. To review the history of CPSO policy
2. To outline Wawrzyniak vs Livingston (2019) decision
3. To examine the updated CPSO policy
4. To discuss how to incorporate this into clinical practice

Click the date and time below to register for this session:

Thursday, May 11 from 12 to 1 p.m.