A government-ordered euthanasia facility forced onto a Catholic-run hospital campus in Canada is now in full operation. Source: OSV News.
The facility is operated by the British Columbia government’s Vancouver Coastal Health Authority on a campus of St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
A six-month investigation into the impact of the government’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) imposition edict also uncovered that planning is underway for another euthanasia facility to be operated by Vancouver Coastal on the site of the new St Paul’s Hospital on False Creek Flats, which is being built three kilometres east of the existing hospital.
Since 2016, Canada’s MAiD law exempts from criminal charges doctors and nurse practitioners who either directly administer lethal medication (euthanasia) or prescribe medication to cause a person’s death at their own request (assisted suicide).
Vancouver Coastal is also operating MAiD rooms in the same buildings that house two Catholic-run hospices in Vancouver.
The Catholic Church condemns both assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Providence Health Care, which operates these Catholic facilities and is under the auspices of the Vancouver Archdiocese, has long maintained policies, consistent with the Church’s pro-life teaching, that prohibit abortion and euthanasia from being performed on its premises. However, it was powerless to block these developments.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has deep concerns about the imposition of MAiD units alongside Catholic facilities.
“This is incredibly sad news,” Mr Schadenberg told Canadian Catholic News. “It’s sad that the unit is now operational. And I’m also incredibly saddened by the fact that the new St Paul’s will also have a euthanasia clinic attached to it.”
The provincial government forced the euthanasia facility onto the current site of St Paul’s Hospital in November 2023 in response to persistent pro-MAiD activism and media pressure.
FULL STORY
MAID unit, forced onto Catholic-run hospital campus in Canada, now operational (Terry O’Neill, Canadian Catholic News via OSV News)
