Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Canada's euthanasia lobby demands that religious medical facilities kill

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

The euthanasia lobby has started a campaign to force Canada's denominational medical institutions to participate or provide (MAiD) euthanasia.

The Canadian Press reported that Dying With Dignity is campaigning to stop "forced transfers" a process that they define as transfers from medical facilities that forbid (MAiD) euthanasia.

The euthanasia lobby wants to stop the transfer of people who have requested euthanasia by forcing denominational medical institutions to do euthanasia.

The Canadian Press report stated:
Dying With Dignity says the service is being restricted because of an agreement that allows facilities covered by the Denominational Health Association to collect taxpayer dollars but refuse to perform services they oppose on religious or moral grounds.

Alex Muir, chair of the Metro Vancouver chapter of Dying With Dignity, says upholding the agreement denies eligible people their constitutionally protected right to access a medically assisted death.
The British Columbia government is already forcing provincially funded medical institutions that are not affiliated with a denomination to provide (MAiD) euthanasia.

Last year the Delta Hospice Society was defunded by the BC Ministry of Health because they refused to kill their patients.

The first attempt to force a religious medical institution to participate in euthanasia was in 2019 when the euthanasia lobby pressured the Nova Scotia government to order St Martha's Hospital in Antigonish NS to provide euthanasia. The Nova Scotia government succumbed to the pressure and ordered St Martha's hospital, to provide euthanasia. In response, the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre, which is not owned by St Martha's hospital, agreed to provide euthanasia.

14 comments:

Cherry Bieber said...

No one can be "forced" to kill. They may have to choose between murder and a career they have worked long and hard to obtain, but no one can "force" them to commit murder.

Alex Schadenberg said...

You are right Cherry but the euthanasia lobby wants denominational health care to either be defunded or taken-over.

L Rogers said...

Obviously our right to 'freedom of conscience' is being stomped on and denied in all of these cases. How do they justify all these laws when they totally ignore these rights and freedoms entrenched in our constitution?

Anonymous said...

I'm totally against euthanasia. Putting that aside, folks can choose where they want to have care. Imposing euthanasia on institutions is wrong on so many levels.

Dean Love said...

To think that this all started with lobbyists merely wanting euthanasia to be available for those terminal patients who were willing to avail themselves of it, from medical doctors willing to provide it. No hint of anyone being coerced to do anything. Now it has predictably evolved into coercion at multiple levels.

John said...

Yes, Dean, this is the "slippery slope" that some of us tried to have people hear, but logic and reason don't seem to get much traction when someone with a compelling and emotional story hits the mainstream media!

Anonymous said...

That Canada's euthanasia lobby demands that religious medical facilities kill reminds me of Christ's words that the devil "was a murderer from the beginning"(John 8:44b). Clearly, the euthanasia lobby is in line with the evil one; more's the pity that it is not the only such.

Father David Graham Scott

Kelly said...

I was sent this link/article earlier this year. Perhaps the recent Vancouver lobbying stems also from this gentleman. Suggested counter actions or campaign welcome!
https://theorca.ca/visiting-pod/a-more-difficult-goodbye/?fbclid=IwAR3yvc27VihhdLIa-Opy4S4T6UP1BqiKbjCZkxqXIB0obebNO8dNKl9UYwk
Kelly

dougsned said...

If you receive taxpayer money from the public then you should respect the same civil rights guaranteed to the citizens of the country. Otherwise the institution needs to stop being funded with the public's money. Christianity is a vile and wretched religion that treats suffering like a sexual fetish. Only a religion like it can birth someone as wicked as Mother Theresa who believed that pain was a blessing from God and a way to become closer to Jesus.

Anonymous said...

So receiving taxpayer money means the institution has to do anything the government tells it to? Would that also include virginity tests or conversion therapy if Canada ever elected a government in favour of those things? And of all the wicked people you could choose from to attack Christianity, you pick Mother Teresa of all people?!?!

dougsned said...

Religious institutions shouldn't be funded with taxpayers money in a secular country in the first place. They should be privately run.

Christianity glorifies the suffering of Christ on the cross. It was this justification that Mother Theresa used to deny painkillers to her patients in her "hospital" because she believed the agony they experienced brought them closer to Jesus. She called it a "kiss from Jesus".

"Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus - a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you."

That's a quote straight from her mouth. This logic is reflected in how Christianity (especially Catholicism) approaches abortion or assisted suicide in case of an irremediable deformity, illness, or any other such condition that causes abject suffering. Even very conservative Islamic countries like Iran are more lenient and pragmatic on issues like abortion than states like Texas, and Alabama, or countries like Poland. I quote:

"Abortion is currently legal in cases where the mother's life is in danger, and also in cases of fetal abnormalities that makes it not viable after birth (such as anencephaly) or produce difficulties for mother to take care of it after birth, such as major thalassemia or bilateral polycystic kidney disease. There is no need for a consent from the father and request and consent of mother with approval of three specialist physicians and final acceptance by legal medicine center suffices. Legal abortion is allowed only before 19th week of pregnancy.[2]"

"Nowadays, most Islamic legal schools of thought hold that the ensoulment of a fetus takes place four months after conception, which has extended the discussion of abortion in many nations and communities that base their judicial codes off of Islamic law; in Iran, a consensus has recently developed that abortion is legitimate if it is before this four-month mark.[5]"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Iran

Abortion for those reasons aren't legal in the previously mentioned places. So yes, while Iran doesn't allow abortion on demand, they don't let unnecessary suffering occur because they believe that it's a gift from God, Mohammed, or Jesus. Or because that it's their golden ticket to Heaven after they die. Not a single other religion is like this. Even the Dalai Lama of Buddhism supports abortion being legal for such cases. No other religion treats suffering as a fetish and a gift from God except Christianity. It will make an absolute hell of this Earth because it truly believes that Heaven comes after.

Carol said...

Well, originally Roe v Wade went into law with stringent limits on the viability of the human fetus. You should move to New Mexico, USA with your views. You would fit right in, because the law in this state is abortion on demand up to and including nine months! So, the slippery slope always comes into play when humans make the laws! Because mankind, in general, believes that the only important human is themselves. What they want, what they need, what they believe. Like it or not, there is a judge. Thank God, I will not face Him!

Julie McNeice said...

I am confused by the following paragraph because I can't understand the connection between St Martha's hospital and the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre: are they in the same building? I tried to find out myself but the link for St Martha's Hospital in Antigonish NS in the paragraph is broken.

"In 2019, the euthanasia lobby pressured the Nova Scotia government to order St Martha's Hospital in Antigonish NS to provide euthanasia. The Nova Scotia government succumbed to the pressure and ordered St Martha's hospital, to provide euthanasia. In response, the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre, which is not owned by St Martha's hospital, agreed to provide euthanasia."

Alex Schadenberg said...

There is nothing confusing here.
I was only telling the readers that St Marths's hospital was the first religious facility that the euthanasia lobby tried to force to do euthanasia.