This week on W5, Victor Malarek takes viewers inside an emotional issue, looking at two ongoing battles between families and doctors over “do not resuscitate” orders.
On Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV and CTV Mobile, W5, Canada’s #1 documentary series, asks “who decides when you die?”
W5 looks at two cases at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital where the families and doctors have different opinions on how much should be done to prolong a patient’s life.
Then, in a second story, Malarek takes viewers inside the world of environmental activist Captain Paul Watson, whose extreme and risky interventions aim to put a stop to the ongoing slaughter of whales and seals.
W5, also airs Sundays at 1 p.m. ET on CP24 and at 7 p.m. ET on CTV Two, and then on demand on the CTV News Video Player at CTVNews.ca (visit CTV.ca for local listings).
In “Pull the Plug,” W5 looks at the case of Douglas DeGuerre, a man who died at Sunnybrook when doctors refused to intervene as he went into respiratory arrest. His daughter, Joy Wawryniak, had power of attorney, and wanted everything possible done to keep him alive. Despite Wawryniak’s pleas, doctors wrote DNR on his chart and refused to provide further care. In a second case, Hassan Rasouli is currently on life support despite the doctors’ medical opinion that he is in a vegetative state with no chance of recovery. Rasouli’s family believes he will recover and have refused to let doctors remove him from a ventilator. Emotionally overwhelming for families, the decision to end a patient’s life raises a host of complicated legal issues: the Rasouli case is headed to the Supreme Court of Canada after lower court decisions ruled doctors do not have a unilateral right to withdraw treatment from a patient and a specialized board should determine any disputes.
Malarek’s second story, “Watson’s War,” focuses on ecological activism and its leading champion, Captain Paul Watson, star of Animal Planet’s hit series WHALE WARS. While environmental issues motivate many to support campaigns to save the planet and its creatures, usually with financial donations and occasionally by speaking out, Captain Watson believes in an in-your-face approach. He has rammed driftnet fishing boats, scuttled whaling ships and has stood between seal hunters and their prey. Captain Watson has been fined and assaulted, but refuses to give up. Founder of The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Watson is a Canadian, who has been a high-seas activist for 40 years. He was one of the founding members of Greenpeace but left the organization over a disagreement over tactics.
W5’s report about Watson provides an intimate look at the environmental warrior – at his home in the San Juan Islands, between Victoria and Washington State, and through dramatic footage of his encounters with whalers, sealers, even warships. Through it all Watson is unrepentant, telling Malarek: “All I’m interested in is defending my clients – whales, dolphins, sharks or fish, not people.”
With an ongoing commitment to covering tough, relevant stories with fair and responsible reporting, W5 is in its 46th season of investigative journalism. Hosted by Lloyd Robertson, the award-winning series is the most-watched current affairs program in Canada. Anton Koschany is Executive Producer of W5. Brett Mitchell is Senior Producer. Wendy Freeman is President of CTV News.
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