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David Seymour, whose proposed assisted dying law is going through Parliament, has hit back at a National MP asking for institutions like hospices to have the right to conscientiously object.
Seymour, leader of the ACT Party, responded by saying his End of Life Choice Bill “doesn’t require any organisation to do anything other than the Ministry of Health”.
“You can’t really be exempted from something you’re not required to do in the first place, but that seems to be what they’re asking for,” he told Newshub. . . [Full text]
Mr. Seymour believes that it is not necessary to include protection for institutions in his bill because the bill does not require institutional participation to begin with. He is mistaken.
Canada’s Criminal Code explicitly states “nothing in this section compels an individual to provide or assist in providing medical assistance in dying.”
However, nothing in the Code prevents other statutes, regulations or policies from compelling individuals or institutions to provide or assist. One of many endorsements of an article by Canadian physicians in the World Medical Journal was a physician who resigned as director of palliative care when regional health authorities began to force unwilling hospices to permit euthanasia on their premises. ( Euthanasia in Canada: A Cautionary Tale) See also CMA’s ‘third way’ may be a third rail in the British Medical Journal.
Objecting insititutions are under considerable pressure in Canada. See
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