TORONTO -- The province's highest court has upheld the constitutionality of Brian's Law, which was enacted in 2000 in response to the murder of Ottawa sportscaster Brian Smith by a paranoid schizophrenic who was not receiving treatment for his condition.
Brian's Law introduced community treatment orders, which provide for community-based treatment and supervision for people with past psychiatric hospital admissions. If a patient agrees to a community treatment order, but goes off their medication they can be returned to a psychiatric hospital.
The appellants argued that the law violates several provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, saying involuntary committal for non-compliance is an unjustifiable form of compulsory treatment.
In a ruling released Tuesday, the Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the appeal, noting that the provisions can only be invoked following a highly individualized assessment and consideration of the patient's specific condition and treatment needs.
Justice Robert Sharpe wrote in the unanimous decision that he disagrees with the appellants contention that the law is discriminatory because it rests upon invalid stereotypical assumptions about the lack of capacity of mental health patients to make treatment decisions for themselves.
The court ruled that the Mental Health Act and the Heath Care Consent Act "give priority to the patient's views and require an individualized assessment of the patient's capacity to make treatment decisions before the patient's views can be overridden."
The case was initiated by Karlene Thompson, who had a lengthy history of mental illness and was detained in a hospital as an involuntary patient and was also the subject of a CTO.
She resisted treatment and complained of the adverse side effects she suffered from neuroleptic drugs.
Without treatment, her hygiene and ability to function were severely compromised, however, she suffered side effects such as dramatic weight gain, excessive salivation and pain in her legs.
She left Canada in 2007 before the application was heard and it was carried forward by the Empowerment Council, an advocacy group that represents the interests of people who are involved with mental health and addiction services.
