By Canadian Press

Quebec court orders hospital to keep woman on life support so she can die in Nigeria

Jul 16, 2024 | 11:59 AM

MONTREAL — A Quebec court ordered a Montreal hospital in April to keep a woman on life support to give her husband the chance to arrange for her to be sent home to die in Nigeria.

McGill University Health Centre sought permission earlier this year to stop all the 42-year-old woman’s treatments and give her palliative care after concluding she had no chance of neurological recovery.

Her husband opposed the change, asking the hospital to keep his wife alive long enough for her to be transferred home to Nigeria at the end of their children’s school year.

Superior Court Justice Florence Lucas sided with the husband, writing in a recently published decision that the benefits of the hospital’s plan did not outweigh the woman’s fundamental right to live, to be cared for and to pass away in her country.

The court documents say the Nigerian-born woman moved to Montreal with her two children for graduate school in 2021, and had no health concerns until she suddenly took ill and collapsed in July 2023.

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Lawyers who represented the hospital and the husband in the case did not immediately answer a request to confirm what happened following the court decision and whether the transfer occurred.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press