Restraint to facilitate treatment

Abstract

In a 2008 decision, S.M.T. v. Abouelnasr, the Superior Court of Ontario (Canada) considered for the first time whether restraint could be construed as “treatment” under the Health Care Consent Act (“HCCA”). Th e case was an appeal by S.M.T., an involuntarily admitted psychiatric patient who had applied to the Consent and Capacity Board (“CCB”) for a review of his involuntary status and capacity to consent to treatment. When the CCB confi rmed both matters, the patient appealed the decisions to the Superior Court. On appeal, the patient challenged the constitutionality of the use of restraints for the purpose of administering treatment to incapable persons, on whose behalf a Substitute Decision Maker (“SDM”) had consented.