Catholic Register
Despite Bill C-14 providing no conscience protection for institutions, Catholic health-care providers expect governments will respect their right to opt out of assisted suicide.
“The fact that it’s not in Bill C-14 doesn’t mean that you can look at it as an interpretation that therefore conscience doesn’t count,” said David Nash, chair of the Catholic Health Association of Ontario. “You have to look at it from the point of view that the federal government doesn’t want to step on provincial toes.”
Nash spoke as the final vote on Bill C-14, the federal government’s assisted suicide legislation, was set to be held in the House of Commons. The bill passed May 31 and was sent to the Senate.
The history in Ontario would suggest provincial authorities will respect the Catholic legacy in health care and avoid pushing Catholic hospitals, hospices and nursing homes into either providing or allowing assisted suicide on their premises, said Nash, a London, Ont., lawyer. . . [Full Text]