A highly unusual B.C. court case serves as a reminder to have a clear will in place before your death.
Mr. T. died suddenly in October 2018. Shortly afterward, his wife (Mrs. T) brought a petition under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (AHRA) to have Mr. T’s sperm removed from his body and stored at an in vitro fertilization clinic.
Mr. T had no will and provided no written consent for such removal prior to his death.
Initially, the judge in the case made an order to preserve Mr. T’s sperm so the parties could make full submissions on the most important part of what Mrs. T sought in her petition: whether she could use Mr. T’s reproductive material to create an embryo for reproductive use by her.
Before Mr. T. died, he and his wife had recently had their first child and the evidence was accepted that they planned on having more. However, this was not enough for the court to order that Mr. T’s sperm could be used for reproduction without his consent.
Mrs. T tried to rely on implied consent and/or provincial legislation providing for inferred or substituted consent in cases of incapacity. However, the court did not find such an argument of assistance.
The court instead found that legislation was paramount and it was not open for the court to rely on the common law where it directly contradicts or is qualified by clear and unequivocal legislative language.
Mrs. T’s situation is a tragic one. Not only did she lose her husband and partner, but she lost the ability to have children with him, despite the fact that such procreation was clearly contemplated by Mrs. T’s late husband.
The problem with the law here is that it was not flexible enough to allow for a common sense determination of this important issue. Unfortunately, waiting for legislators to catch up to the real world is a lesson in extreme patience.
A new claims process has been launched to compensate individuals who attended Residential Schools as day scholars.
Krista Simon has been appointed to join the Supreme Court Civil and Family Rules Committee to offer advice on new projects and rules that may impact British Columbians’ access to justice.
Victims across the BC province were notified that a nurse that was involved in their perioperative care at BC Women’s Hospital’s gynecological surgical center and did not have a valid nursing license.
A news report from Prince Edward Island says that province could become the first place in Canada where non-disclosure agreements could become limited in cases of sexual misconduct.