Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case of Woman Removed From Organ Transplant List for Refusing COVID Vaccine

A nurse prepares a dose of the Moderna vaccine in Halifax on Jan. 11, 2021.Andrew Vaughan-Pool/The Canadian Press

The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the case of a woman removed from a high-priority organ transplant list for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announced on June 8.

“Ms. Lewis is deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court of Canada decided not to hear her case,” said Allison Pejovic, legal counsel for Sheila Annette Lewis. “She had hoped that justice would prevail in the courts for herself and other unvaccinated transplant candidates across Canada. Unfortunately, her constitutional challenge has ended today, while the unscientific COVID-19 vaccine mandate persists with no end in sight.”

In 2018, Lewis was diagnosed with a terminal illness and told she would not survive without an organ transplant. She was placed on a waiting list in 2020, but in 2021 she was informed that a COVID-19 vaccine would be required to receive the organ.

In an affidavit previously submitted to the court, Lewis said the decision whether or not to take the vaccine had been “agonizing” and had resulted in “incredible stress and sorrow.” Lewis said taking the vaccine goes against her conscience, as there is a lack of long-term safety data.

“I am shocked and appalled that my ability to get life-saving surgery depends upon me taking a new drug with Health Canada warning labels that is still in the experimental stage. I am under extreme duress knowing that my choice not to comply will result in the loss of my life. I cannot give informed consent under duress,” Lewis wrote.

Life Expectancy Is ‘Not Long’

Back in May, Lewis told her story to the National Citizen’s Inquiry, which examined how the pandemic measures put in place by all levels of government impacted Canadians in the four categories of health, fundamental rights and freedoms, social well-being, and economic prosperity.

Lewis said she was told in 2021 that because her medical records from her childhood could not be located, she needed to get all her childhood vaccinations updated. Lewis said it took over a year to receive all her shots.

Shortly after hearing the news that COVID-19 vaccinations would be required to receive the organ transplant, Lewis asked her doctor how safe the COVID-19 vaccine was, she recounted, and he told her it was “100 percent” safe. “I said, ‘There’s no data. It hasn’t been out there very long, there’s nothing on it, we don’t know anything about, so how is it 100 percent safe?’” she said.

Lewis told the inquiry that if the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear her case, she would be taken off the organ transplant list and would “never get back on.” Lewis, who is on 25 litres of oxygen per minute, said her life expectancy without the organ transplant is “not long.”

“When you can’t breathe, it’s one of the scariest things in the world. ... If you laugh, you lose your oxygen; and if you cry, you lose your oxygen; and if you move, you lose your oxygen,” she said. “I was hoping to be given the gift of life.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I just couldn’t take that vaccine because it was going to do a lot more damage.”

Lewis recently filed a separate legal action, which is grounded in negligence against the AHS, Alberta hospital, and transplant doctors for their decision to remove her from the list. Lewis is accusing them of medical malpractice and will ask the court to reinstate her to the high-priority transplant list immediately.