Canadian Health Care Should Put Patients First by Ending Faith-Based Refusals

My Globe and Mail article

ERIC MATHISON
JUL 8, 2023


I have an article in The Globe and Mail today arguing that governments shouldn’t provide public funding for faith-based healthcare institutions that refuse to provide medical assistance in dying, abortion, contraception, and other essential services. If you have a Globe subscription, you can access the article here:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-canadian-health-care-should-put-patients-first-by-ending-faith-based/

Here’s an excerpt:


Acute care needs to change, but long-term care, hospice and other facilities also violate patient rights. The time has come for broad change: Provinces and territories should stop granting religious exemptions to health care organizations when they refuse to provide MAID and other medical interventions. If they want to receive public funding, they shouldn’t be allowed to refuse care on religious grounds.

And


Ethically speaking, the case for ending institutional faith-based refusals is easy. People shouldn’t have to worry that they’ll end up at the wrong place when they get in an ambulance, or that they’ll be told their request is immoral according to their nearest hospital. Health care in Canada should put the interests of patients first, which means ending faith-based refusals.

Many others have been calling for the end to forced transfers for years. I’m happy to see the B.C. government starting to take this issue seriously. Hopefully, more progress is on the way.