An elderly Winnipeg man whose family fought to keep him on life support, despite the concerns of doctors, was buried Wednesday after he died of natural causes.

Samuel Golubchuk, 84, passed away Tuesday at Winnipeg's Grace Hospital.

"We won," family lawyer Neil Kravetsky told CTV Winnipeg. "He got to die without some doctor pulling the plug; he got to die when God was ready for him."

Golubchuk's family had obtained a court order requiring doctors to keep him alive, saying that to hasten his death would constitute a sin under Orthodox Jewish law. The case was set for trial this September.

"In many ways, as tragic as this is, he did win in the end because he died under his own terms," said longtime family friend Michael Eskin.

Another friend, Nella Muyal, said Golubchuk's death means the legal question of who decides when someone should be removed from life support remains unresolved.

"The end is not clear," she said. "It's left for future generations -- for the rest of us -- to have to deal with the messy question of who makes the decision."

Since November 2007, doctors at the hospital had wanted to take Golubchuk off life support. They felt he had no chance of improvement.

Three doctors felt so strongly that they resigned their privileges over the case.

In his resignation letter, Dr. Anand Kumar detailed how doctors had to "surgically hack away at Golubchuk's infected flesh" because of ulcers on the patient's skin. He likened the treatment to torture.

Family members had argued Golubchuk was aware but couldn't express himself.

The elderly man had suffered a brain injury in 2003. He was hospitalized last October suffering from pneumonia and pulmonary hypertension.

Once in hospital, Golubchuk's condition deteriorated.

His case sparked a widespread debate on end-of-life issues, including topics such as the costs of keeping the terminally ill alive and physicians' ethical responsibilities.

With a report by CTV Winnipeg's Stacey Ashley and files from The Canadian Press