Medical assistance in dying not allowed at new hospital
When the B.C. government announced this week that construction had begun on the new St. Paul’s Hospital, it made no mention of an ongoing controversy involving medical assistance in dying.
St. Paul’s Hospital is overseen by the board of Providence Health Care, a Catholic organization that refuses to allow physician-assisted death in any of its facilities. This is explicitly stated on the organization’s palliative-care referral form. It notes that Providence will assure that a patient’s request for medical assistance in dying is “appropriately addressed”.
So even though the B.C. government is contributing $1.3 billion toward the $2.2-billion hospital on Station Street, patients who seek to exercise their constitutional right to end their lives will have to arrange a transfer. That’s because none of the 548 publicly funded beds in the new St. Paul’s Hospital may be used for this purpose.
Almost $1 billion from Providence’s sale of the St. Paul’s site at 1081 Burrard Street is also going into the new St. Paul’s Hospital.
The B.C. Humanist Association and Dying With Dignity have previously called on the B.C. government to end the exemption for publicly funded religious health organizations on providing medical assistance in dying.
Last year, Health Minister Adrian Dix slashed funding for the Delta Hospice Society when it refused to provide this service.
That prompted the B.C. Humanist Association’s executive director, Ian Bushfield, to question why Dix continued allowing an exemption for other faith-based health organizations.
“Patients seeking MAID [medical assistance in dying] in these facilities are forced to endure an excruciating transfer from their home to realize their rights,” Bushfield said on the association’s website. “These forced transfers undermine the entire premise of a compassionate and dignified death.”
The B.C. Humanist Association estimates that taxpayers transferred almost $900 million to six major faith-based healthcare providers in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.