The Supreme Court of Canada has issued a number of high-profile health law decisions—Latimer, Rodriguez, and Morgentaler, and the most recent, Chaoulli. Health law has become of great interest to the public and a dynamic, relevant, and important site of jurisprudential activity.

This book brings consideration of all of the major Supreme Court of Canada health law cases together in one place and in a coordinated fashion for the first time. In each chapter, the authors describe the relevant Supreme Court of Canada cases and explore the implications of the cases for their specific topic. Where relevant, the authors reflect on the following cross-cutting themes: the values of autonomy, dignity, liberty, equality, justice, privacy, and life; and the concepts of identity, personhood, community, property, embodiment, health, vulnerability, disability, and oppression. It is important for students, practitioners, policy-makers, academics, and judges to understand the ways in which such values and concepts play out in different ways in different contexts within the health sphere.

This book demonstrates the sweep of issues addressed by the Court and encourages reflection upon the role of the Court in shaping, both directly and indirectly, health care delivery and health policy in Canada. The authors have endeavoured to provide careful and critical evaluation of this role. Health Law at the Supreme Court of Canada is designed to contribute to the development of jurisprudence and legislation in the area of health law, policy, and practice.

Jocelyn Downie holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy. She is a professor in the Faculties of Law and Medicine and a faculty associate of the Health Law Institute at Dalhousie University. She has an honours B.A. and an M.A. from Queen's University, an M. Litt from the University of Cambridge, and LL.B. from the University of Toronto, and an LL.M. and S.J.D. from the University of Michigan. Prior to her graduate work in law, she clerked for Chief Justice Lamer at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Professor Downie's research interests include assisted death, the governance of research involving humans, and women's health law and policy. Her current work is geared to contributing to the academic literature and affecting change in health law, policy, and practice.

Jocelyn Downie's profile page

Elaine Gibson is the associate director of the Health Law Institute and an associate professor in the Faculty of Law at Dalhousie University. Her areas of expertise include health law, privacy law, and negligence.

Professor Gibson participates in a number of research projects concerning the privacy and confidentiality of electronic health information, focussing on the uses of information in the areas of health research and public health surveillance. Her recent publications include "Health Information: Confidentiality and Access," in T. Caulfield, J. Downie, and C. Flood, eds., Canadian Health Law and Policy, 3rd ed. (2007) and "Medical Confidentiality and Protection of Third Party Interests" in the American Journal of Bioethics (2006).

Elaine Gibson's profile page