An Alberta wife, mother, and grandmother will die without a life-saving organ transplant which she's being denied by a team of AHS doctors because she has chosen not to be vaccinated against COVID-19. .Sheila Annette Lewis, 57, is now appealing to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to help save her life.."I would tell [Smith] point blank, I don't want to die; I do not want to die," Lewis told the Western Standard. ."Please, please do what you had said you would try to do and help," she added, speaking to Smith's promise to help Albertans being discriminated against based on their vaccine status. ."Please help overturn this policy. We need somebody to listen." .On this edition of In Focus with Melanie Risdon, Lewis — along with Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) lawyer Allison Pejovic — discuss her appeal that was recently denied by the Alberta Court of Appeal which upheld the lower court ruling the Charter does not apply to clinical treatment decisions. .Lewis was diagnosed with a terminal disease in 2018 and told she would not survive unless she received an organ transplant. She was originally deemed qualified for the procedure and was added to the waitlist in June of 2020. .In March 2021, Lewis was notified by her doctors she would require the COVID-19 vaccine in order to receive the transplant, but Lewis said she had misgivings about the vaccines as they're still in trial phase and long-term safety data has yet to be determined. .With the help of the JCCF, Lewis was successful in getting a Consent Order in December preventing her from being removed from the transplant list, however, in July, Justice R. Paul Belzil ruled the Charter has "no application to clinical treatment decisions made by treating physicians" and Lewis' application was dismissed. .READ MORE: Alberta judge rules doctors OK to drop unvaxxed patient from transplant waitlist.The Western Standard at the time spoke with Lewis, Pejovic, and Dr. Eric Payne, a pediatric neurologist and clinical assistand professor with a master's degree in public health from Harvard..READ MORE: WATCH: Alberta lawyer, doctor, unvaxxed patient discuss withholding of life-saving transplant.In August, the JCCF, on behalf of Lewis, filed an appeal of the court's decision, but it too was rejected in the Alberta Court of Appeal with a ruling released November 8 that upheld the lower court's decision. .READ MORE: Unvaxxed Alberta woman's appeal to receive life-saving transplant again denied.One week following the dismissal of Lewis' appeal, JCCF President John Carpay released an open letter that highlighted Lewis' case and called on Albertans to petition Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Jason Copping to "instruct [AHS] to stop discriminating against patients on the basis of vaccination status." .READ MORE: Justice Centre calls on Albertans to petition Smith to save unvaxxed transplant patient."Transplant candidates should not be required as a condition for life-saving surgery to receive an injection which will be in clinical trials until 2023 and for which there is no long-term safety data."
An Alberta wife, mother, and grandmother will die without a life-saving organ transplant which she's being denied by a team of AHS doctors because she has chosen not to be vaccinated against COVID-19. .Sheila Annette Lewis, 57, is now appealing to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to help save her life.."I would tell [Smith] point blank, I don't want to die; I do not want to die," Lewis told the Western Standard. ."Please, please do what you had said you would try to do and help," she added, speaking to Smith's promise to help Albertans being discriminated against based on their vaccine status. ."Please help overturn this policy. We need somebody to listen." .On this edition of In Focus with Melanie Risdon, Lewis — along with Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) lawyer Allison Pejovic — discuss her appeal that was recently denied by the Alberta Court of Appeal which upheld the lower court ruling the Charter does not apply to clinical treatment decisions. .Lewis was diagnosed with a terminal disease in 2018 and told she would not survive unless she received an organ transplant. She was originally deemed qualified for the procedure and was added to the waitlist in June of 2020. .In March 2021, Lewis was notified by her doctors she would require the COVID-19 vaccine in order to receive the transplant, but Lewis said she had misgivings about the vaccines as they're still in trial phase and long-term safety data has yet to be determined. .With the help of the JCCF, Lewis was successful in getting a Consent Order in December preventing her from being removed from the transplant list, however, in July, Justice R. Paul Belzil ruled the Charter has "no application to clinical treatment decisions made by treating physicians" and Lewis' application was dismissed. .READ MORE: Alberta judge rules doctors OK to drop unvaxxed patient from transplant waitlist.The Western Standard at the time spoke with Lewis, Pejovic, and Dr. Eric Payne, a pediatric neurologist and clinical assistand professor with a master's degree in public health from Harvard..READ MORE: WATCH: Alberta lawyer, doctor, unvaxxed patient discuss withholding of life-saving transplant.In August, the JCCF, on behalf of Lewis, filed an appeal of the court's decision, but it too was rejected in the Alberta Court of Appeal with a ruling released November 8 that upheld the lower court's decision. .READ MORE: Unvaxxed Alberta woman's appeal to receive life-saving transplant again denied.One week following the dismissal of Lewis' appeal, JCCF President John Carpay released an open letter that highlighted Lewis' case and called on Albertans to petition Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Jason Copping to "instruct [AHS] to stop discriminating against patients on the basis of vaccination status." .READ MORE: Justice Centre calls on Albertans to petition Smith to save unvaxxed transplant patient."Transplant candidates should not be required as a condition for life-saving surgery to receive an injection which will be in clinical trials until 2023 and for which there is no long-term safety data."
