Can my attorney for personal care make end-of-life decisions for me in Ontario?

Yes. One of the most important roles an attorney for personal care can play is making end-of-life health care decisions on your behalf when you are no longer able to make them yourself.

This can include decisions about whether to continue or withdraw life-sustaining treatment, consenting to palliative care or hospice care, refusing CPR or artificial ventilation, and expressing your wishes about pain management and comfort measures. These decisions must always be made based on your prior capable wishes if they are known. If you expressed a clear wish not to be kept on life support in a condition of no meaningful recovery, your attorney is obligated to honor that wish even in the face of pressure from family or care providers.

If your specific wishes for end-of-life situations are not documented, your attorney must act in your best interests, which is a harder and more subjective standard. This is why detailed documentation — sometimes called advance care planning or an advance directive — is so valuable. It removes ambiguity and gives your attorney clear ground to stand on.

It is important to note that in Ontario, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) currently requires a person to have decision-making capacity at the time of the final consent. An attorney for personal care cannot consent to MAID on your behalf — this is a legal restriction under federal law.