Dying With Dignity is lobbying the British Columbia government to force Catholic hospitals to provide euthanasia..The latest push came after Samantha O'Neill, 34, was transferred on April 4 from St Paul's hospital in Vancouver to St. John’s hospice, run by Vancouver Coastal Health to receive medical assistance in dying (MAiD)..As reported in the Vancouver Sun, Dying With Dignity and O'Neill's family initiated a campaign to pressure the BC government to force Catholic hospitals to provide MAiD, pointing out the St. Paul hospital will get a $2 billion taxpayer-funded replacement in 2027. .However, Dying with Dignity CEO Helen Long admitted, “such policies will remain in place unless there’s a successful court challenge.”.On June 27, Daphne Gilbert, a constitutional law professor at the University of Ottawa, told CTV news he expects a Charter challenge will be filed..“The Catholic Church does not fund health care, they don’t put money into the health-care system through these institutions. It’s not like this is a shared funding agreement. All of the money is coming from the taxpayers,” said Gilbert..In a published letter to the Vancouver Sun, Alex Muir, chair of the Metro Vancouver chapter of Dying With Dignity, said O’ Neill’s “forced transfer” was “horrific” and illustrated the need for changes..“The province has the power and the financial leverage to change this, but lacks the political will due to Providence [Health Care]’s prominence in our publicly funded health care system. Shame all around,” he wrote..The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) highlighted these recent events on a blog post and launched a petition to BC Health Minister Adrian Dix to oppose mandates against Catholic hospitals..The petition says, “Firstly, the law does not require every health care institution to kill their patients by euthanasia. Secondly, Catholic health care institutions have a long history of providing excellent care. Thirdly, this woman was not abandoned. She was provided excellent palliative care, but when she insisted on dying by an assisted death, the Catholic hospital transferred her." .“Catholic hospitals do not hide the fact that they do not provide euthanasia. We live in a pluralistic society. Catholic hospitals provide excellent care based on a long religious tradition.”.In 2022, Muir complained to the Canadian Press that a BC provincial agreement allows facilities covered by the Denominational Health Association to collect taxpayer dollars but refuse to perform services they oppose on religious or moral grounds. At that time, Muir said the agreement denies people constitutionally protected rights to MAiD..In 2019, the euthanasia lobby pressured the Nova Scotia government to order St Martha's Hospital in Antigonish NS to provide euthanasia..In response, the province ordered St Martha's hospital to do so, however, the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre, which is not run by St Martha's hospital, offered MAiD instead..In February 2021 the Delta Hospice Society was defunded by the BC Ministry of Health because they would not provide MAiD onsite. The government took over their hospice, which was built by private funds.
