The Ford government is facing a lawsuit alleging Ontario’s nursing home law violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly and Ontario Health Coalition claim the law, that permits hospitals to charge discharged patients if they do not move to a home not of their choosing, violates patients rights to privacy and informed consent.

The government introduced and quickly passed Bill 7 last fall, allowing hospitals to accept a spot in a long-term care home and share a patient’s health information without their approval.

The law allows patients to be sent to homes up to 70-kilometres from their preferred choices in southern Ontario, and as far as 150-kilometres away in the north.

If patients refuse to move to those homes, they could be fined $400 a-day.