Dr. Nancy Morrison and her dying patient: a case of medical necessity.

On May 6, 1997, 60 police officers swarmed into the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre (QEII) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in order to effect the arrest of a physician, Dr. Nancy Morrison, on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the death of a patient six months earlier. They also carried out searches of 21 locations pursuant to a search warrant. The patient had died in the intensive care unit (ICU) two and a half hours after his removal from artificial life support, and months later a physician at the hospital had informed the police that Dr. Morrison had unlawfully caused his death.