Two more doctors at a Winnipeg hospital are refusing to work on a ward where an elderly man is being kept on life support.

Doctors Bojan Paunovic and David Easton are "no longer accepting shifts,'' in Grace hospital's critical-care unit, said Heidi Graham, a spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

Graham would not specify why the pair have declined to be in the rotation. She referred calls to the physicians' lawyer, Helga Van Iderstine, who could not be reached for comment.

Dr. Anand Kumar decided to end life support for 84-year-old Samuel Golubchuk in the fall, but the man's family went to court and got an injunction to keep him on life support.

Golubchuk's family says taking him off the machines would violate his beliefs as an Orthodox Jew; his adult children believe it would be a sin under the faith because it would "hasten his death.''

But doctors at the Grace Hospital say Golubchuk has minimal brain function and because chances of recovery are slim, they want to disconnect his ventilator and pull his feeding tube.

Kumar resigned this spring from rotations at the hospital, saying he could no longer continue in good conscience to keep Golubchuk alive.

A trial to determine whether Golubchuk should remain on life support is set for September.

With ulcers on his skin, doctors had to "surgically hack away at (Golubchuk's) infected flesh'' in a treatment akin to torture, Kumar wrote in his resignation letter.

In cases like this, doctors are in an "extremely difficult'' position, said Dr. Jeff Blackmer, executive director for the Canadian Medical Association's office of ethics.

"On the one hand, obviously you're trying to provide the highest level of care possible. On the other hand, you're being forced to do so by the courts, you're being forced to provide treatment that is against your professional judgement,'' Blackmer said from Ottawa.

Under medical association guidelines, doctors can refuse to treat patients if they provide "reasonable notice'' or arrange to have another physician provide treatment, Blackmer said.

Graham says the health authority is working to maintain service in the critical-care unit.

"At this point, we have adequate coverage,'' she said.