When religious principles trump the law

There is something troubling about St. Joseph’s Healthcare wanting to be exempt from providing physician-assisted death services to patients once the federal right-to-die law comes into force June 6.

The rationale, as related by St. Joseph’s CEO Kevin Smith, is that assisted death goes against the Catholic beliefs at the core of the hospital’s mission. It’s the same rationale that allows Catholic hospitals to refuse to offer abortion services, although they are legal and constitute mandated public health policy.

If you’re a Catholic who shares the belief that assisted death is wrong on religious grounds, you will no doubt agree and hope the government says yes to the request — which it probably will since the last thing it wants is a fight with the Catholic Church.

But if you’re among the majority who agree Canadians should have access to assisted death services, you should be concerned. In fact, granting this request will be more ammunition for those who don’t think religious dogma has any place influencing public policy. The Supreme Court of Canada has said the right to die should be available to Canadians. The government was elected on a platform that included that measure.

Hospitals are largely funded with tax dollars from provincial health care ministries. They are mandated by the government — standing as a proxy for citizens — to offer legally and medically mandated services in return for that funding. It’s one thing if a service is un- available for financial, logistical or other reasons. It’s quite another for a publicly-funded hospital to refuse to provide a legal service for religious reasons.

Will Catholic hospitals making this request — others across the country have or will follow the St. Joseph’s lead — accept proportionately less funding for providing less than a full range of medical services? What will happen to patients receiving palliative care at a Catholic hospital who choose assisted death? Will they be shunted to another hospital that does offer the service? Will any terminally ill patient who acknowledges wanting assisted death be refused admission to Catholic hospitals?

It’s one thing for individual physicians to be conscientious objectors to assisted death, as some are concerning abortion. In the case of abortion services, they have to at least provide a safe and viable referral service. And when right-to-die rules come down, the same thinking must be applied.

But we’re talking about entire public hospitals that want to be declared exempt for reasons of religious ideology. Is religious belief really how we want to make health care decisions in this day and age? Can we afford to cater to one religious denomination but insist on secularity for all others?

Chances are the government will agree to St. Joe’s request and others like it. But it doesn’t seem right.