Some Quebec doctors still resisting assisted dying, commission chair says

Montreal Gazette

Aaron Derfel

One out of two doctors who have turned down requests for medical assistance in dying by terminally-ill patients have probably done so without justification under the Quebec law, says the head of the province’s commission on end-of-life care.

“It’s 50-50,” Dr. Michel Bureau told the Montreal Gazette in an interview. “Are there some doctors who are too strict in the application of the criteria? We have observed this (attitude) in several cases.”

Despite the progress made in implementing the so-called dying with dignity law, some physicians continue to resist carrying out assisted dying, although in fewer numbers than when the legislation came into effect on Dec. 10, 2015, Bureau added. . . . [Full text]

HHS Final Conscience Rule and Protected Employees

Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman PC

Robin M. Sheridan and Lindsey Croasdale

On May 2, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced the issuance of the final conscience rule, which prohibits discrimination of individuals on the basis of their exercise of conscience in HHS-funded programs. The rule has not yet been published in the Federal Register, but HHS has released an unofficial version of the document. This rule will be effective 60 days after is it published in the Federal Register. . . [Full text]

Conscientious objection must be respectful, pope tells health care workers

Crux

Junno Arocho Esteves

ROME – When doctors, nurses and health care workers conscientiously object to a procedure to protect the life and dignity of their patients, they must do so respectfully, Pope Francis said.

Without respect, conscientious objection can be “a reason for contempt or pride” that would impede dialogue “with those who hold different positions” and mask the true reason of that objection, which is to the seek the patient’s well-being, the pope told a group of Catholic health care workers May 17 at the Vatican. . . [Full text]

With Ontario court’s ruling on doctors, the revolution continues

There is a growing antipathy among Canadian elites against conscientious individuals who refuse to accept their views

National Post

Barry W. Bussey*

How is it that such a simple decision could be made so complicated? Given the history of accommodating individual conscience in the medical profession and in Canadian law, the case before the Ontario Court of Appeal to accommodate doctors’ consciences was a “no-brainer.” The law, history, and basic human decency cried out: “Accommodate the physician!” Instead, the highest court in Ontario followed the worrying legal revolution against accommodation and stomped on conscience. And it did so wrapped up in language that purported to support vulnerable patients.

The decision against physicians who, because of conscience, cannot assist in the intentional killing of a human being, pre- or post-birth, is a travesty of justice. It is wrong. It is wrong morally, ethically and legally. . . [Full Text]

Ontario Court of Appeal supports ‘effective referral’ for morally contested procedures, including euthanasia


Court unanimously affirms right of state to compel participation in homicide, suicide, etc.

News Release

Protection of Conscience Project

On 15 May, 2019, three judges of the Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that physicians can be forced to facilitate procedures they find morally objectionable, including euthanasia and assisted suicide, by connecting patients with willing providers (“effective referral”).

The Court of Appeal judgement concerned a 2018 decision by the Ontario Divisional Court that had been appealed by the Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada and others. The litigation was a response to a compulsory “effective referral” policy imposed by Ontario’s state medical regulator, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

The Protection of Conscience Project, Catholic Civil Rights League and Faith and Freedom Alliance jointly intervened at trial and in the appeal in support of freedom of conscience.

The Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal both acknowledged the joint intervention, but neither considered the arguments it proposed because the case was decided solely on the basis of freedom of religion claims. The Court of Appeal held that the evidence at trial was “insufficient to support an analysis of freedom of conscience.”

“To the extent the individual appellants raise issues of conscience,” said the Court, “they are inextricably grounded in their religious beliefs,” so that, “at its core, the appellants’ claim is grounded in freedom of religion.”[para. 85]

Since the arguments in the Project’s intervention were not addressed at trial or in the appeal, Project Administrator Sean Murphy believes that they are unaffected by the decision.

“The focus of the Court was on religiously-motivated refusal to participate in perceived wrongdoing,” said Murphy. “The analytical framework proposed in the joint intervention could easily have been adapted and applied to that particular form of the exercise of religious freedom. The evidentiary record would have been sufficient for that purpose.”

“However, the Court did not do this, so the arguments still stand, and they can be raised again in another appropriate case.”

The decision demonstrates that the judges uncritically adopted the view of the College that euthanasia, assisted suicide, abortion, contraception, sterilization, sex change surgery, etc. are acceptable forms of medical treatment or health care. They further noted that abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide “carry the stigmatizing legacy of several centuries of criminalization grounded in religious and secular morality.” [para. 123]. On the other hand, they gave no weight to contrary views held by the plaintiffs.

The Court of Appeal also supported the College’s assertion that objecting physicians unwilling to comply with the demand for effective referral could change their scope of practice and move into fields like “sleep medicine, hair restoration, sport and exercise medicine, hernia repair, skin disorders . . . obesity medicine, aviation examinations, travel medicine . . . administrative medicine or surgical assistance.”[para. 71]

The appellants have 60 days to consider and appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

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Contact: Sean Murphy, Administrator
Protection of Conscience Project
Email: protection@consciencelaws.org