In the legal battle over whether to revoke a death certificate for a Brampton woman on life support, on Thursday, Dr. Andrew Baker, chief of critical care at St. Michael’s Hospital, quoted the famous French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think, therefore I am,” to explain how consciousness helps determine whether someone is alive.

On Sept. 20, Dr. Omar Hayani at Brampton Civic Hospital determined that Taquisha McKitty’s brain had ceased functioning, which constitutes death in Ontario.

McKitty suffered a drug overdose on Sept. 14. She ingested a combination of cocaine, marijuana, benzodiazepine and oxycodone.

Her family, represented by lawyer Hugh Scher, argues that she is alive and hopes to have her death certificate revoked.

On Sept. 28, Judge Lucille Shaw granted a temporary injunction to keep McKitty on life support.

McKitty, a 27-year-old mother of a nine-year-old daughter, is currently on a ventilator.

Baker, of St. Michael’s, ran tests on McKitty after the Sept. 28 injunction to keep her on life support was issued.

He used the quote from Descartes to mean that for someone to exist, they must be capable of thinking, having experiences and responding to their environment.

He considered the ability to think a part of the “dignity of personhood.” The spinal reflexes that McKitty demonstrated, are normal in brain-dead patients, and do not reflect the “dignity of the human soul,” he told the court.

Baker stressed that the Canadian guidelines that outline the definition of death require the loss of capacity for consciousness, the ceasing of brain stem function and an inability to breath.

“I tend to go beyond the point of no return,” Baker told the court, referring to his critical care practice.

“I never give up hope.”

Baker expressed his belief in the legitimacy of brain death as a standard, because mechanical hearts and lungs exist today and this makes a cardiopulmonary definition of death complicated.

In court, Dr. Andrew Healey, chief of critical care at Brampton Civic Hospital, continued his testimony, which began on Wednesday.

Responding to videos that depict McKitty moving as her family spoke to her, Healey told the court it would be impossible for a patient to go from being in a coma to responding to commands.

Healey told the court that “people get the impression that there is a following of command,” when patients show spinal reflexes, which are consistent with brain-dead patients.

In his testimony, Baker agreed: “Confirmation bias is very common, especially when you’re emotionally involved.”

Both doctors told the court that there is no medical literature on the subject of when spinal reflexes would cease in a brain-dead patient if the person is on life support, as McKitty is.

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“We can keep biological material sustained and it can experience feedback loops,” said Baker, who offered an example of a lung, which can be kept alive after it is removed from the body.

Baker told the court that he felt experimenting on human remains was disrespectful to the personhood of the human that had lived.

“I don’t think their bodies should be used to try things,” he said. Baker added that medication and treatment would be ineffective as there would be no blood-flow to the brain, and, so, no way for the brain to receive it.

Healey discussed McKitty’s treatment in the hospital, saying it is consistent with the treatment of dead patients who are being prepared to donate their organs, but that that treatment usually lasts 24 to 36 hours.

McKitty has been receiving treatment for nearly a month after she was declared dead.

In Ontario, either the patient or the family of the patient must consent to organ donation through an organ donor card, which McKitty had signed, giving her consent.

“There is much innuendo about the case of organ donation,” Baker told the court.

Baker told the court that the overall response to the organ donation system in Ontario is “extremely positive,” and reiterated the need for consent in the process.

When questioned by Erica Baron, the counsel for Dr. Hayani, Healey told the court he is consulted to help determine the death of a patient about 300 times a year.

“If there was no court order, we would remove the ventilator,” said Healey.

Healey also told the court that McKitty had been admitted to the hospital in recent months for another drug overdose prior to her overdose on Sept. 14.