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Ontario law requires doctors, optometrists and nurse practitioners to report to Ontario any medical conditions, eye problems or physical limitations that make it dangerous for patients to drive. Medical officials can be found liable for failing to report someone unfit to get behind the wheel.
Nyla Matuk, however, contends the MTO itself is guilty of negligence for relying on fax machines to receive medical reports about drivers.
“This problem has been identified for a very long time,” Matuk, a Toronto-based poet and writer, said Tuesday. “This fax machine situation seems like the most egregious form of neglect.”
An MTO spokesperson said Tuesday that the ministry had recently modernized its case management system and introduced new “digital channels” of communication. “While the ministry has added new ways for a client or medical practitioner to submit medical reports, we are mindful that some will continue to rely on using fax and posted mail,” Lee
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Nyla and Robert Matuk say their mother, Dr. Naeema Matuk, should not have had her licence renewed in May 2020, two months after a doctor advised the MTO that it was dangerous for her to continue driving because of cognitive decline.
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The MTO said it did not receive the fax.
Dr. Matuk died from the catastrophic injuries she received in a single-car crash on Carling Avenue in July 2020.
The 85-year-old lost control of her car, swerved across several lanes of traffic and slammed into a house on the opposite side of the street. She died in hospital two weeks later.
Crash victim s licence was renewed after doc sent fax that MTO says it didn t receive torontosun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from torontosun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
23 Treatment refusal can occur in the presence or absence of decision-making capacity.
24 The core elements of capacity are the ability to understand the information relevant to the decision, the ability to use or weigh that information as part of the decision-making process, and to communicate the decision.
25 Common law establishes that an adult is presumed to have the capacity to consent to or refuse medical treatment unless that presumption is rebutted.
26 However, capacity may be affected by symptoms of mental and physical illness, emotional state and cognition, which may fluctuate over time and resolve with treatment and support.
27,28 With psychosis, for example, there may be symptoms such as delusional beliefs leading to mistrust of clinicians or denial of illness.
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