Father files appeal in continued effort to prevent daughter's MAID death

The father of a 27-year-old woman approved to receive medical assistance in dying (MAID) has filed an appeal in Calgary in his continuing effort to prevent his daughter from ending her life.  

A publication ban protects the identities of both the father and daughter. CBC News is identifying the father as W.V. and the daughter as M.V. The daughter lives with her father.

The father has used the courts in his attempt to block his daughter from accessing MAID since he was granted an interim injunction the day before she was scheduled to die on Feb. 1. 

W.V. believes his daughter is generally healthy and that any physical symptoms she may have result from undiagnosed psychological conditions.

Justice Colin Feasby was told that M.V. has autism but the court has no evidence as to what condition she suffers from that qualified her for MAID.

• Calgary judge rules 27-year-old can go ahead with MAID death despite father's concerns

The daughter did not have to prove her MAID qualifications for the courts as it was presumed the two doctors who signed-off on her application followed the legal requirements. 

M.V. was approved for MAID last December. On Jan. 31, her father got a temporary injunction preventing that from happening. 

W.V. then asked the judge to order a judicial review, which would examine how his daughter was approved for MAID. The father also wanted the interim injunction to continue to prevent M.V. from accessing MAID to be extended while the review took place. 

At the same time, the daughter applied to have the injunction set aside. 

• Father asks court to stop 27-year-old daughter's MAID death, review doctors' sign-off

Last week, Feasby denied the father's requests, paving the way for M.V. to receive MAID.

Feasby ruled M.V.'s right to dignity and autonomy outweighed the "serious issues" raised by her father.

Notice of appeal

The judge stayed his decision for 30 days so that the father could take the case to the Alberta Court of Appeal. 

On Tuesday, W.V.'s lawyer, Sarah Miller, filed appeals, asking the province's top court to set aside Feasby's rulings.

In her notice of appeal, Miller asked the court to reinstate the injunction until the application for judicial review can be heard. 

She also wants to force the daughter to answer questions about her MAID application. 

Miller signaled her intent to argue that the lower court erred in making assumptions about M.V.'s health and the process and "the decision to approve M.V.'s MAID request, which presupposes the legitimacy of the MAID approval and eligibility."

MAID approval process

Currently, two doctors or nurse practitioners have to approve a patient for MAID. 

Feasby heard that two doctors were initially approached by M.V. One agreed to sign off on approving her for MAID, the other denied the application. 

A third "tie-breaker" doctor, as described by lawyers for Alberta Health Services, was then offered to M.V. 

Her father took issue with the third doctor, who signed off on M.V.'s MAID approval, "because he was not independent or objective," according to Miller's filed materials. 

At the hearing, Miller called the situation "a novel issue for Alberta" because the province operates a system where there is no appeal process and no means of reviewing a person's MAID approval.