'ACTIVISTS' ARE 'FAMILY MEMBERS'
NR ARE YANKEE CLOSET CATHOLIC CONSERVATIVES
(Darwin Brandis/Getty Images)
By THOMAS MCKENNA
NATIONAL REVIEW
June 20, 2024
Pro-euthanasia activists and the family of a patient killed by assisted suicide sued a Catholic health organization on Monday for refusing to provide the lethal procedure.
When a 34-year-old cancer patient at St. Paul’s Hospital requested assisted suicide last year, the Catholic hospital in Vancouver transferred her to another health facility that provided it. But her parents say the transfer violated their daughter’s rights under the Canadian constitution, and are suing Providence Health Care — the Catholic health organization that runs St. Paul’s — and the British Columbia Health Minister
The plaintiffs argue that all palliative care centers must provide in-house access to assisted suicide, regardless of religious beliefs. National Review first reported the details of the suit in February.
Activist group Dying with Dignity Canada is also a plaintiff in the suit and helped assemble a legal team. Daphne Gilbert, vice chairwoman of Dying with Dignity Canada, said in a February interview that she hopes the case will “pave the way for ending the ability of religion to dictate health care.”
The challenge is a “test case,” said Gilbert, for compelling religious medical institutions to provide abortions and “gender-affirming care,” in addition to assisted suicide.
“Religious institutions would either have to decide to get out of the business of offering medical care, and it could be taken over by the province,” Gilbert said, “or these institutions would have to align their care with the Constitution, even if it opposes their values.”
The suit argues religious health centers that do not provide MAID violate a patient’s “freedom of conscience and religion” and “right to life, liberty, and security” guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Since patients under the Catholic hospital’s care are entitled to “freedom from religion,” the suit claims, Providence’s religious beliefs cannot dictate its health-care practices.
Jyothi Jayaraman, a palliative care doctor who left Providence, is also suing the health organization for preventing her from performing euthanasia. The lawsuit argues the policies of Providence and the B.C. government infringe on a clinician’s ability to “discharge their professional obligations and to practice medicine free from religious coercion and in a manner consistent with their own conscience.”
Canada is “five to seven years ahead” of the United States on these issues, said Andrew Bennett, program director for faith communities at Cardus, a Canadian think tank.
“And I don’t mean in a positive direction — a very negative direction,” Bennett said.
The St. Paul’s patient denied access to assisted suicide, 34-year-old Samantha O’Neill, gained public attention last June. When O’Neill, who had been diagnosed with stage-four cancer, opted for a medically assisted death, St. Paul’s hospital could prepare her for the procedure but could not administer the drugs that would ultimately kill her. O’Neill’s parents said the transfer, which took a couple of hours, caused their daughter unnecessary pain and robbed them of their final moments with her.
In response to public pressure fueled by O’Neill’s transfer, the B.C. government in November appropriated land from the hospital, according to an Archdiocese of Vancouver publication, and announced it would build an assisted-suicide center adjacent to St. Paul’s Hospital. The new building will allow patients to more easily be transferred out of Providence’s care to receive MAID.
Gilbert is concerned that the deal does not go far enough, since the transfer of the patient could still be painful and separate them from their families, and since other facilities under Providence’s management would still not be required to provide MAID.
The constitutional challenge cites the Canadian Charter’s fundamental freedom of conscience and religion and argues that patients have a “conscience right” to choose euthanasia. St. Paul’s, she said, must provide MAID on-site.
“My argument would be that there is no freedom of religion for an institution,” Gilbert said. “Bricks and mortar don’t have conscience and religious beliefs. People within them might — and those people need to be respected and accommodated — but the four walls of the building are publicly funded health-care institutions.”
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association takes a similar view. Harini Sivalingam, director of equality programs, said she would not comment on the developing lawsuit against St. Paul’s but said the CCLA believes religious hospitals “shouldn’t be granted an exemption from providing MAID.”
“All publicly funded hospitals, which includes anything religious, should not be able to deny equitable health services,” said Sivalingam in February, “whether that’s access to abortion, gender-affirming care, or providing end-of-life services such as MAID.”
The day after Providence and the British Columbia government struck the deal, on November 29, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement saying they “unanimously and unequivocally oppose the performance of either euthanasia or assisted suicide within health organizations with a Catholic identity.”
Assisted suicide was illegal in Canada until 2015, when the Supreme Court found the nationwide prohibition unconstitutional. In response, the Parliament passed the Medical Assistance in Dying Act, which legalized assisted suicide in certain circumstances.
Patients could receive MAID if their death was “reasonably foreseeable” and their illness “grievous and irremediable.” A 2021 amendment removed the “reasonably foreseeable” requirement.
Brian Bird, a lecturer at the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law, claims the high court’s treatment of religious liberty has been on the wrong track. The St. Paul’s case, he said, could be “an opportunity to correct course.”
“It seems to me that what reconciliation could look like is allowing a health-care institution like St. Paul’s or other healthcare institutions to provide 99.5 percent of legal health-care services, but for conscientious or ethical or religious reasons, not provide certain procedures,” Bird said. “It’s quite a heavy-handed argument to say they must provide everything.”
Canada’s supreme court has been unfriendly to religious-liberty claims in recent years. A 2018 ruling by the supreme court denied accreditation to a law school proposed by Trinity Western University, a private university that adheres to Christian teachings on traditional marriage. Despite the university’s academic achievements and contributions, the court ruled that the school’s faith-based community standards could potentially harm the dignity of LGBT students.
Providence is “reviewing the court filing in order to determine next steps,” a spokesperson told NR in a Tuesday email statement.
“As Providence is a Catholic Health Care provider, MAiD is not available at our facilities,” the statement read. “Consistent with British Columbia’s regulations, Providence works to ensure patient requests for MAiD are addressed in a timely and safe manner and that patients requesting the service are brought to a health-care organization that provides it.”
Since its legalization, deaths from MAID have risen from 1,018 in 2016 to 13,241 in 2022, accounting for 4 percent of all deaths in Canada.
By THOMAS MCKENNA
NATIONAL REVIEW
June 20, 2024
Pro-euthanasia activists and the family of a patient killed by assisted suicide sued a Catholic health organization on Monday for refusing to provide the lethal procedure.
When a 34-year-old cancer patient at St. Paul’s Hospital requested assisted suicide last year, the Catholic hospital in Vancouver transferred her to another health facility that provided it. But her parents say the transfer violated their daughter’s rights under the Canadian constitution, and are suing Providence Health Care — the Catholic health organization that runs St. Paul’s — and the British Columbia Health Minister
The plaintiffs argue that all palliative care centers must provide in-house access to assisted suicide, regardless of religious beliefs. National Review first reported the details of the suit in February.
Activist group Dying with Dignity Canada is also a plaintiff in the suit and helped assemble a legal team. Daphne Gilbert, vice chairwoman of Dying with Dignity Canada, said in a February interview that she hopes the case will “pave the way for ending the ability of religion to dictate health care.”
The challenge is a “test case,” said Gilbert, for compelling religious medical institutions to provide abortions and “gender-affirming care,” in addition to assisted suicide.
“Religious institutions would either have to decide to get out of the business of offering medical care, and it could be taken over by the province,” Gilbert said, “or these institutions would have to align their care with the Constitution, even if it opposes their values.”
The suit argues religious health centers that do not provide MAID violate a patient’s “freedom of conscience and religion” and “right to life, liberty, and security” guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Since patients under the Catholic hospital’s care are entitled to “freedom from religion,” the suit claims, Providence’s religious beliefs cannot dictate its health-care practices.
Jyothi Jayaraman, a palliative care doctor who left Providence, is also suing the health organization for preventing her from performing euthanasia. The lawsuit argues the policies of Providence and the B.C. government infringe on a clinician’s ability to “discharge their professional obligations and to practice medicine free from religious coercion and in a manner consistent with their own conscience.”
Canada is “five to seven years ahead” of the United States on these issues, said Andrew Bennett, program director for faith communities at Cardus, a Canadian think tank.
“And I don’t mean in a positive direction — a very negative direction,” Bennett said.
The St. Paul’s patient denied access to assisted suicide, 34-year-old Samantha O’Neill, gained public attention last June. When O’Neill, who had been diagnosed with stage-four cancer, opted for a medically assisted death, St. Paul’s hospital could prepare her for the procedure but could not administer the drugs that would ultimately kill her. O’Neill’s parents said the transfer, which took a couple of hours, caused their daughter unnecessary pain and robbed them of their final moments with her.
In response to public pressure fueled by O’Neill’s transfer, the B.C. government in November appropriated land from the hospital, according to an Archdiocese of Vancouver publication, and announced it would build an assisted-suicide center adjacent to St. Paul’s Hospital. The new building will allow patients to more easily be transferred out of Providence’s care to receive MAID.
Gilbert is concerned that the deal does not go far enough, since the transfer of the patient could still be painful and separate them from their families, and since other facilities under Providence’s management would still not be required to provide MAID.
The constitutional challenge cites the Canadian Charter’s fundamental freedom of conscience and religion and argues that patients have a “conscience right” to choose euthanasia. St. Paul’s, she said, must provide MAID on-site.
“My argument would be that there is no freedom of religion for an institution,” Gilbert said. “Bricks and mortar don’t have conscience and religious beliefs. People within them might — and those people need to be respected and accommodated — but the four walls of the building are publicly funded health-care institutions.”
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association takes a similar view. Harini Sivalingam, director of equality programs, said she would not comment on the developing lawsuit against St. Paul’s but said the CCLA believes religious hospitals “shouldn’t be granted an exemption from providing MAID.”
“All publicly funded hospitals, which includes anything religious, should not be able to deny equitable health services,” said Sivalingam in February, “whether that’s access to abortion, gender-affirming care, or providing end-of-life services such as MAID.”
The day after Providence and the British Columbia government struck the deal, on November 29, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement saying they “unanimously and unequivocally oppose the performance of either euthanasia or assisted suicide within health organizations with a Catholic identity.”
Assisted suicide was illegal in Canada until 2015, when the Supreme Court found the nationwide prohibition unconstitutional. In response, the Parliament passed the Medical Assistance in Dying Act, which legalized assisted suicide in certain circumstances.
Patients could receive MAID if their death was “reasonably foreseeable” and their illness “grievous and irremediable.” A 2021 amendment removed the “reasonably foreseeable” requirement.
Brian Bird, a lecturer at the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law, claims the high court’s treatment of religious liberty has been on the wrong track. The St. Paul’s case, he said, could be “an opportunity to correct course.”
“It seems to me that what reconciliation could look like is allowing a health-care institution like St. Paul’s or other healthcare institutions to provide 99.5 percent of legal health-care services, but for conscientious or ethical or religious reasons, not provide certain procedures,” Bird said. “It’s quite a heavy-handed argument to say they must provide everything.”
Canada’s supreme court has been unfriendly to religious-liberty claims in recent years. A 2018 ruling by the supreme court denied accreditation to a law school proposed by Trinity Western University, a private university that adheres to Christian teachings on traditional marriage. Despite the university’s academic achievements and contributions, the court ruled that the school’s faith-based community standards could potentially harm the dignity of LGBT students.
Providence is “reviewing the court filing in order to determine next steps,” a spokesperson told NR in a Tuesday email statement.
“As Providence is a Catholic Health Care provider, MAiD is not available at our facilities,” the statement read. “Consistent with British Columbia’s regulations, Providence works to ensure patient requests for MAiD are addressed in a timely and safe manner and that patients requesting the service are brought to a health-care organization that provides it.”
Since its legalization, deaths from MAID have risen from 1,018 in 2016 to 13,241 in 2022, accounting for 4 percent of all deaths in Canada.
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