Category: Canada

Trampled rights

Catholic Register (Editorial)

Requiring doctors to remain pillars of integrity while chipping at their moral underpinning is an odious contradiction. Yet that is what the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario proposes with a draconian new policy that tramples on conscience and religious rights.

The provincial regulatory body disregarded the majority view of 16,000 public submissions, dismissed the opinion of the Ontario Medical Association and the American Medical Association, and rejected the policy of the Canadian Medical Association when it voted 21-3 to force doctors to refer patients who seek treatments that their own doctor won’t provide due to moral or religious convictions. . . [Full text]

Internal memos show how a handful of Canadian lawyers launched a national campaign against doctors’ conscience rights

LifeSite News

Steve Weatherbe

March 11, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Only a few weeks after Ontario’s College of Physicians and Surgeons voted to compel the province’s doctors to refer and even perform operations they consider immoral, Saskatchewan’s College is scheduled to follow suit. But all Canada’s provincial governing bodies have been urged to get on the bandwagon as part of a national campaign from an obscure, federally-funded coterie of pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia academics.

According to Sean Murphy, director of the British Columbia-based Protection of Conscience Project, the pro-abortion Conscience Research Group is the prime mover behind efforts by the leadership of the Ontario and Saskatchewan medical professions to force their members to do abortions, assist at suicides, and euthanize their patients upon request.

“Based on the correspondence I’ve seen,” Murphy told LifeSiteNews, “there does appear to be a movement to impose this on all doctors in Canada.” . . .[Full text]

In the assisted-dying debate, where’s the compassion for doctors?

Edmonton Journal (Editorial)

What happens when those we trust most with human life are suddenly in charge of death?

Earlier this month, the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, ruling against a family who wanted their mother’s care home to stop spoon-feeding her.

It’s difficult to fault either party.

Margaret Bentley, 83, neither speaks nor recognizes her relatives, and her family is certain the former dementia-ward nurse, now in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease herself, would not want her life to continue in her current state.

A living will written by Bentley in 1991 outlined as much in no uncertain terms: “If at such a time the situation should arise that there is no reasonable expectation of my recovery from extreme physical or mental disability, I direct that I be allowed to die and not be kept alive by artificial means or ‘heroic measures.’ ”

But Bentley’s health-care workers refused to deliberately withhold food. They argued that by opening her lips to receive food when touched with a spoon, Bentley was consenting to being fed, and thus to being kept alive. The courts agreed. . . [Full text]

CMDS Canada plans legal challenge to new Ontario College of Physicians policy

Note:  The following message has been sent to members of the Christian Medical Dental Society of Canada concerning the decision of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to enact a policy that demands that physicians facilitate procedures to which they object for reasons of conscience by referring patients to a non-objecting colleague or agency.  It is reproduced here with permission.

We received the disappointing news today that the CPSO has passed their policy “Professional Obligations and Human Rights”. We ask that all members across the country join in prayer and ask our Lord to have mercy on us and to act to undo this policy that tramples on the constitutional freedoms of doctors of conscience.

We have already been in discussion with our lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos who has been asked to prepare an application in court to have the policy struck down because it runs contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

We are planning a press conference in Toronto to launch this court challenge in the next two weeks and we sincerely hope this stops other colleges from following suit. We know that Saskatchewan has a similar policy up for consideration, and other provinces might be considering this. We need to act quickly to try to stop other provinces from taking this step. Bryan Dias, national president of the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physician’s Societies has indicated that his organization will join in the application as well and other groups are also welcome.

We will be making a solicitation of members for this cause next week. We will be preparing to move legally in Saskatchewan as well if we are not successful with the Saskatchewan College.  We are going to try to raise $150,000 for this project. $25,000 has already been raised from the CMDS Canada Board of Directors alone. The money raised will also go towards a public awareness campaign and towards the development of a database of supporters.

Three doctors have come forward to be named in the court application in Ontario. We would encourage other Ontario doctors who feel strongly about this matter to come forward and allow their names to stand as well.  For more information, contact Larry at lworthen@cmdscanada.org

Many doctors are concerned about what to do in their practice now that the policy has been passed. We will be asking Albertos for his advice on this and will get back to you on this with a note very shortly.

One of the things we could consider is to try to get before the court quickly to ask that the policy be suspended until it gets before a judge, to hear the merits of the case.

One thing is for sure – please do not give up hope. We have a good legal strategy and alot of people pulling for us. There were over 16,000 submissions to CPSO on this issue and it has been reported that most were in favour of conscience rights generally. Most importantly, we have a God who is looking out for us and who wants us to continue His healing ministry. Let us keep each other in prayer and let us ask our respective congregations and parishes to pray for us as well.

Let’s not worry – because we know that the Lord has a plan.

Larry Worthen BA, MA (Th.), LLB
Executive Director
Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada
Cell: (902) 880-2495

National Office:
1-197D Main Street  Steinbach MB R5G 1Y5 Phone: 204-326-2523
Fax: 204-326-3098 Toll Free:  1-888-256-8653 Website: www.cmdscanada.org

CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors

News Release

Christian Medical Dental Society of Canada

SASKATOON, March 6, 2015 /CNW/ – Several Saskatchewan physicians, including Dr. Amos Akinbiyi, Dr. Philip Fitzpatrick, and Dr. Randy Friesen, released a letter and legal brief (see below), today, describing how the conscience rights of Saskatchewan doctors are undermined by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) draft policy on requirements for physicians and surgeons and upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision on assisted suicide in Carter, et al.

Said Dr. Philip Fitzpatrick, “In the recent Carter decision from the Supreme Court, they made explicit reference to conscience rights, and that physicians could not be forced to participate in an abortion or euthanasia. But the CPSS’s draft policy would require me to make a formal referral to another physician where my conscience would not permit me to do those procedures, and could require me to do it myself.”

The letter and brief (see below) were initiated by physicians who are members of the Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada (CMDS) and the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians’ Societies (CFCPS).

CPSS is circulating a draft policy that would require physicians and surgeons to make a formal referral of patients to a physician or surgeon who would be willing to perform the legally permissible and publicly funded health services, irrespective of conscience rights. If another physician were not available to perform the service, the physician would be required to provide the service, whether or not performing the service conflicted with conscience.

“The CPSS seems to be creating conflicts between medical doctors’ conscience rights and patient care unnecessarily. No doctors concerned about conscience rights would put their patients’ health and well-being in jeopardy. I find that patients are very appreciative of my concern for their health and of my outlining all the options and alternatives for treatment,” said Dr. Friesen.

In their letter to CPSS and the accompanying legal brief, the Saskatchewan doctors outlined their concerns with the draft policy and how a few amendments to it would provide the conscience rights protections upheld by the Court.

“Saskatchewan is a dynamic province with a growing population. Saskatchewan needs physicians, especially General Practitioners. GPs would be most affected by the CPSS policy. Our province will have a hard time keeping and recruiting GPs to serve communities where they would be required by the policy as now drafted to make care decisions they believe will harm patients,” added Dr. Akinbiyi.

CMDS represents more than 1600 physicians, surgeons and dentists across Canada and CFCPS is a national association of Catholic physicians’ guilds, associations and societies from eleven cities across Canada.

Letter: http://goo.gl/nKi6JN and the Legal Brief: http://goo.gl/Nf3Bp7.

SOURCE Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada

For further information: Larry Worthen, (902) 880-2495