Opinion: Canadian health care should put patients first by ending faith-based refusals

Eric Mathison is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto Scarborough and a clinical ethicist.

Since St. Paul’s is run by Providence Health Care, a Catholic organization, it refuses to allow MAID at the hospital, so Sam was forced to go to a nearby hospice facility to receive the publicly funded treatment she consented to and qualified for. To handle the pain of being moved, she had to be sedated. She didn’t wake up to say the goodbye she wanted, so instead of a peaceful death surrounded by her loved ones, Sam’s last hours involved hospital staff rushing to get her transferred.

This is wrong. Sam’s forced transfer violated her autonomy and likely caused her to suffer. She was entitled to better treatment both ethically and legally. Organizations like Providence Health Care, in contrast, don’t have the moral right to deny care while receiving public funding. Although the issue isn’t settled, many legal experts believe that current practices violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Acute care needs to change, but long-term care, hospice and other facilities also violate patient rights. The time has come for broad change: Provinces and territories should stop granting religious exemptions to health care organizations when they refuse to provide MAID and other medical interventions. If they want to receive public funding, they shouldn’t be allowed to refuse care on religious grounds.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

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