Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
When my mother was in her final months, suffering from a heart failure and other problems, she called me to her bedside with a pained expression. She took my hand and asked plaintively, “How do I get out of this mess?”
As a physician, I dreaded the question that might follow: Would I help her end her life by prescribing a lethal drug? . . . [Full Text]
Victoria Times Colonist
VANCOUVER — A faith-based nursing home has filed a complaint against a medical-assistance-in-dying doctor, accusing her of “sneaking in and killing someone” at the Orthodox Jewish home against the centre’s policy.
But Dr. Ellen Wiebe, who advocates for assisted suicide through Hemlock Aid and has assisted the legal death of a number of people since Canada’s ban on the practice was struck down in 2016, insisted she did nothing “unprofessional
She said she also honoured the family’s request for the death “to be kept private, because they didn’t want to deal with other people’s reactions.” . . . [Full Text]
Albuquerque Journal
The University of New Mexico has suspended a physician’s research while investigating her transfer of human tissue to a private company and whether she had the proper approvals for any underlying study, internal documents show.
Officials suspended Dr. Robin Ohls’ research duties and barred her from her lab in October after learning she had acquired fetal tissue for months from the Southwestern Women’s Options abortion clinic and transferred it to a private company in Michigan, according to an internal memo obtained by the Journal. . . [Full Text]
A nurse formerly employed at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York describes being coerced to participate in abortion. The story illustrates the need for protection of conscience legislation and policies as well as the kind of experience that can cause health care workers to refuse to participate in abortion for reasons of conscience.
CBC News
Dr. Frank Ewert wants protection from having to help a patient die — but Dying with Dignity Canada doesn’t want that to happen at the cost of patients receiving full access to end-of-life options.
“When I started back a number of years ago and vowed to follow the Hippocratic oath, I meant it. It was very profound to me, it resonated with my core beliefs, that I would always respect life, that I would do nothing to harm a patient,” Ewert told a legislative committee on Monday evening. . . [Full text]