Letters to The Province: Faith has no place in taxpayer-funded well being care

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I’m writing to specific my concern relating to the discriminatory practices of St. Paul’s Hospital towards medical help in dying (MAID) sufferers.

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The Canadian parliament permits eligible Canadian adults to request MAID, but St. Paul’s Hospital has allowed non secular bias to override the desires of the federal authorities and the legal guidelines of the nation.

The Well being Canada web site gives particulars on the observe requirements for MAID, a complete doc that features two essential steps: Physicians and nurse practitioners should observe inside a scope for which they’re appropriately skilled, licensed, and competent. And physicians and nurse practitioners who select to evaluate eligibility for or present MAID should have ample coaching, expertise, and {qualifications} to soundly and competently accomplish that in every case. This could contain coaching in capability evaluation, trauma-informed care, and cultural security and humility.

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Nowhere in all the doc do parliamentarians categorical concern for the views of the Roman Catholic Church. Due to this fact, it’s unacceptable that nameless St. Paul’s Hospital officers, who might lack the mandatory {qualifications} to evaluate MAID, have taken it upon themselves to label the observe as a sin.

This choice compelled my 34-four-year-old niece, Samantha, to endure extra, pointless, and excruciating ache to satisfy her choice to endure MAID. Furthermore, officers robbed her of her final moments with family members, as she by no means regained consciousness as a result of medicine administered to facilitate her transfer out of St Paul’s.

This example is actually outrageous. Spiritual bias ought to play no position in a publicly funded hospital like St. Paul’s, which obtained $1 billion in funding from the B.C. authorities in 2019.

The province should take rapid motion. We should defend and uphold the rights and dignity of all people, no matter their non secular beliefs, inside our publicly funded health-care establishments.

Michael O’Neill, Brampton, Ont.


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