According to Vancouver Sun, DWDC started their massive lobbying campaign after 34-year-old Samantha O'Neill was transferred on April 4 from the Catholic-run St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver to St. John's Hospice, run by Vancouver Coastal Health, where she was given the life-ending medical assistance in dying (MAID). St. Pauls' denied O'Neill's request to be euthanized to end her suffering from stage 4 cervical cancer. Her family and the "anti-life" group argued that it was unacceptable that a taxpayer-funded hospital like St. Paul's forces dying patients to leave its facility just to get MAID from another "healthcare" institution.
"It's such a heartbreaking situation. The whole point of MAID is to die with dignity," said her cousin Taryn Bodrug, who lives in Victoria and was with O'Neill in her final days. "She didn't get that. There was no dignity in getting transferred to another place for a matter of policy." But St. Paul's, run by Providence Health Care, is a "Catholic health care community dedicated to meeting the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of those served through compassionate care, teaching and research." The hospital does not offer MAID to apply the values and teachings of the Catholic Church.
As per LifeSiteNews, St Paul's is a non-profit and funded mainly through the government as are all Catholic hospitals but it is afforded some level of autonomy due to religious beliefs.
The Catholic medical institution is set to receive $2 billion in new taxpayer funding in 2027, which DWDC fights to stop just because MAID is not offered to requesting patients such as O'Neill.
In a letter published in the Vancouver Sun, the chair of the DWDC Metro Vancouver chapter Alex Muir said that it is "horrific" that O'Neill had to be "forced transfer" to a hospice that would comply with her request to be killed.
"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," wrote Muir.
Survey: Majority of Canadians support access to MAID, believe all publicly funded medical facilities are obliged to offer it
Information provided by DWDC indicated that a new national poll conducted by Ipsos Reid demonstrated that Canadians continue to support access to MAID. DWDC CEO Helen Long said that the survey results showed overwhelming support for equitable access to assisted death for those who meet the criteria.
The figures came out showing that 73 percent of Canadians believe that publicly funded healthcare facilities should be required to provide the full range of healthcare services, including MAID, if they have the proper equipment and staff to do so. This includes 72 percent of those who identify as Catholic and 75 percent of British Columbians. (Related: Survey: Nearly 3 in 10 Canadians believe the poor and homeless should be eligible for assisted suicide.)
Furthermore, another 73 percent believed that clinicians must put patients' primary interests ahead of their own morals and values and 81 percent agreed that a clinician should direct the patient to the assisted dying team in the local health authority. Interestingly, those who identify as Catholic or Protestant also support this approach, with 82 percent and 77 percent respectively.
"We know that patients admitted to publicly funded health care facilities with religious affiliation have experienced forced transfers to another location to receive health care, such as MAID, that the facility opposes," explain Daphne Gilbert, professor of law at the University of Ottawa and Vice Chair of DWDC's board of directors. "Clinicians can conscientiously object to practices that conflict with their values, but a building cannot; a building does not have a conscience."
Long meanwhile added that their mission is to improve the quality of dying and protect the end-of-life rights of people across Canada.
"The recent findings in the Ipsos poll, confirm that our advocacy efforts reflect what a majority of people across Canada support and want in place; this includes timely referrals for continuous health care, fair access to end-of-life care and compassion for those who suffer intolerably," she added.
The survey involved 3,502 Canadians aged 18 years and above from June 7 to 12. Weighting was employed to ensure that the sample's composition reflects the overall population according to the latest census information, according to DWDC.
Visit Euthanasia.news for more news related to medically assisted suicide done in hospitals.
Watch the video below that talks about assisted suicide and how fragile public opinion on this is.
This video is from the CHP Canada channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
Canada attempting to expand EUTHANASIA program to allow assisted suicide of the mentally ill.
Canada expands euthanasia "mercy" killing to ensnare society’s most vulnerable, including children.
OFFING THE POOR: Canadian man facing homelessness applies for medically assisted death.
Aussie scientist promotes ASSISTED SUICIDE in Scotland using DIY death pods.
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