Abortion notice law clashes with free speech and right-of-conscience laws at suburban pregnancy centers

Chicago on the Radar

April Leachman

After the Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v. Wade in 1973, federal legislation was passed to represent the interests of doctors and other healthcare workers who have religious or moral objections to the controversial procedure.  These “right-of-conscience” laws  provide a measure of protection for medical personnel who do not want to perform abortions or offer abortion referrals.

In Illinois, all that changed on January 1 of this year, when  Governor Bruce Rauner’s amendment to the legislation officially took effect, requiring clinicians, regardless of their moral convictions, to inform pregnant women  about “all their options,” including abortion.

Healthcare entities must at least provide women with abortion referrals.   There seems to be some concern that patients are not being apprised of all the courses of action they can pursue when they find themselves in a crisis pregnancy.

Two Christian pregnancy centers– 1st Way Pregnancy Support Services (McHenry County) and Pregnancy Aid South Suburbs (Lansing)– and a physician who serves patients at various clinics, have since filed suit in opposition to the enactment.  Plaintiffs point out that the Illinois legislation is a clear violation of federal law.  Furthermore, it tramples on clinicians’ First Amendment Rights, requiring providers to inform patients about a procedure that they believe is morally wrong. . . [Full Text]

 

Why you can’t get a doctor-assisted death at St. Joseph’s in London

As a faith-based institution, St. Joe’s won’t help its patients die

CBC News

Andrew Lupton

Despite being allowed by law in Canada, patients at any St. Joseph’s Health Care London facility must go elsewhere if they want a medically assisted death.

In June of 2016, Parliament passed Bill C-14, which lays out the rules that allow doctors and nurse practioners to legally end the lives of patients who are suffering and whose deaths are “reasonably foreseeable.”

Faith-based exemptions

Doctors and faith-based intuitions in Ontario that object to doctor-assisted death for religious reasons can’t be forced to perform any procedure that helps a patient die.

As a Catholic intuition, St. Joseph’s won’t allow medically assisted deaths to happen at its facilities, which include the main hospital, the Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care (394 beds) and the Parkwood Institute’s Main Building (14 palliative care beds and 156 long-term care beds). . . [Full Text]

 

 

Doctors raise alarm about long delays in getting paid for medically assisted deaths

Payments have been slow and amount of time that doctors can bill isn’t enough, says Dr. Tim Holland

CBC News

Emma Davie

The president-elect of Doctors Nova Scotia is concerned that delays in getting paid for administering medically assisted deaths is deterring more doctors from offering the service.

Dr. Tim Holland said he’s yet to be paid for any of the procedures he’s done since Bill-C14 came into effect in June 2016.

Of the 67 claims made in the province for assessments and procedures related to medically assisted deaths, 35 have been paid and 32 are being assessed for payment, the Department of Health and Wellness said Tuesday. . . [Full text]

 

Low fees have B.C. doctors thinking twice about providing assisted dying

‘We’re being paid 50% of what we would doing routine office work. So it’s difficult to justify continuing’

CBC News

Karin Larsen

Medically assisted dying has been legal in Canada for over a year, but one B.C. doctor says he can no longer afford to offer the service, because the costs involved are much greater than the $200 payout from the provincial medical services plan.

In a letter, Dr. Jesse Pewarchuk calls the situation “economically untenable” while outlining a number of steps a physician must follow in the medical assistance in dying (MAID) procedure. . . [Full text]

 

Meet 1 of only 2 London doctors willing to help their patients die

Dr. Scott Anderson says too many barriers stand between patients and access to a doctor-assisted death

CBC News

Although medically assisted dying has been law for more than a year in Canada, Dr. Scott Anderson is one of only two physicians in the London area willing to help his patients die.

Anderson, an emergency intensive care specialist at London Health Sciences Centre, is one of only 74 doctors in Ontario and 11 in the South West Local Health Integration Network registered with the province’s 1-800 number to help connect patients seeking the procedure with doctors willing to perform it. . . [Full text]