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Wawrzyniak’s attorneys said the case is significant as it can warn physicians they have no right to “play God.”

“We are taking this case to trial to make it clear to physicians that they are required to obtain express consent before writing a DNR order,” lawyer Barry Swadron said in a statement.

The unproven statements of claim and defence largely agree on DeGuerre’s medical history in the months before his death.

Both parties said the 88-year-old had several serious conditions in 2008, including diabetes, kidney failure and gangrene.

He signed a document in November 2007 appointing his daughter as the person to make medical decisions on his behalf should he be unable to do so.

At the same time, both parties agree DeGuerre signed a document saying he did not wish to be resuscitated if death seemed imminent.

Wawrzyniak’s statement of claim asserts, however, that DeGuerre changed his mind in the following months and repeatedly declared his desire to have a full code status.

Some of those declarations took place once DeGuerre was admitted to Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital in a wing designated for veterans, the statement said.

Livingston, DeGuerre’s primary physician on the veteran’s wing, said DeGuerre would need to have both his legs amputated above the knee. The statement of claim said he had a discussion with Wawrzyniak, who said doctors were to attempt to resuscitate her father if he had a heart attack during surgery.