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CHAPTER D-3
Fault Lines: COVID-19, the Charter,
and Long-term Care*
Martha Jackman**
Abstract
COVID-19 has underscored the crucial role of the single-payer health
care system in ensuring access to care based on need, consistent with
the Canadian Charter ofÂ
RightsÂ
andÂ
Freedoms (the Charter) and international
human rights guarantees. But significant fault lines were exposed when
health authorities across the country concentrated their pandemic readi-
ness efforts on maximizing hospitals’ capacity to deal with the antici-
pated surge of COVID-19 patients, without considering the potentially
disastrous consequences for an already struggling long-term care system.
COVID-19 laid bare the reality that barriers to care continue to exist as a
function of who patients are and where they are being treated. Focussing
on COVID-19 hospital transfer decisions and their impact on the life, lib-
erty, and security of the person and the equality rights of long-term care
residents, this chapter argues that governments and health care decision
makers in Canada must recognize that access to a comprehensive range
of care is a fundamental right, and that human rights–based accountabil-
ity is urgently needed in the battle against COVID-19, and beyond.
* This paper is dedicated to Robert Bycraft, Anna Babey, and the many other
grandparents, parents, and friends whose lives have been cut short by the
COVID-19 pandemic./Ce chapitre est dédié à Robert Bycraft et Anna Babey, ainsi
qu’aux nombreux autres grands-parents, parents, amis et amies qui ont perdu la
vie en raison de la pandémie de COVID-19.
** Professor of Constitutional Law in the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International