BC must fund early intervention for children, court rules.

VICTORIA -- In a landmark decision the British Columbia Court of Appeal recently upheld a ruling by a lower court that forces the BC Government to provide health care money for intensive early intervention for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. (The judgement is linked on the Community Action website: communityaction.ca)

The Autism Society of Canada, which welcomed the court's decision, said this ruling "has opened the door for legal action on behalf of thousands of children with autism conditions throughout Canada."

The BC appeal court, in a 2-1 split, went further than the original court decision to include school age children with ASD. Intransigent civil servants could face contempt of court charges if such children were refused access to treatment. The court's intervention would be accessed through a request by the family physician backed by written support of a neurologist or psychologist.

As well, the court not only ordered the province to provide funding for the Lovass Autism Treatment at a cost of between $40,000 to $60,000 per year per child, but also ordered the government to pay the four sets of parents, who initiated the challenge, $20,000 each as "symbolic" damages.

Relying on the equality guarantees enshrined in the Charter of Rights as well as the court's duty to safeguard the interests of children, the judges made it clear that governments lose their authority over budgetary decision making when the constitutional rights and the welfare of children are in jeopardy.

In their decision, the judges stated that "having created a universal medicare system, the government is prohibited from conferring those benefits in a discriminatory manner", and that the province had failed to justify treating autistic children as if they were "less than worthy" of medical assistance than non-autistic children.

"It is to say that the community is less interested in their plight than the plight of children needing medical care and adults needing mental-health therapy," said Justices Mary Saunders and John Hall.

The Autism Society of Canada also stressed that this ruling is "all the more important given the rapid increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism conditions," and the effectiveness of early intervention in improving the functioning of children with autism.

Children diagnosed with ASD increased by 63 percent in Canada between 1999 and 2000. Cost effectiveness studies have indicated that lifelong costs to governments for children with ASD are reduced by 50 percent with early intervention.

The Society also questioned Health Canada's lack of leadership in ensuring effective treatment for ASD children by not enforcing compliance with the Canada Health Act by provinces.

Citing a report by the Auditor General of Canada in which the AGC noted that many provinces are not complying with non-compliance with the Canada Health Act requirement for surveillance of chronic medical conditions pointing out that in Canada there are no methods "to collect accurate information on Autism Spectrum Disorders across all ages".