A Canadian couple is currently suing the state and two health authorities after a Catholic hospital refused to euthanize their daughter after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Sam O’Neill, an avid runner and dedicated vegan, was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer in early 2022. The cancer was very aggressive and eventually spread to her spine, fracturing at least one vertebrae. She also suffered from recurring kidney infections and osteoporosis.
“They say what you are asking for is sinful.”
A year later, Sam’s health continued to deteriorate. She was subsequently admitted to St. Paul’s Hospital, a Catholic publicly funded facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, owned by the Catholic health system Providence Healthcare. In the spring of 2023, Sam requested and was granted assisted suicide services, known as medically assisted dying (MAiD).
MAiD has been law in Canada since 2016, with exceptions made for religious institutions such as St. Paul’s Hospital, which follow Catholic doctrine and do not kill patients, even if they are terminally ill. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear about the evil nature of intentional euthanasia, calling it “murder” regardless of its “form or motive.”
Despite the strict prohibition, St. John Hospice, a division of Providence Health, has civilly killed its patients. St. Paul Hospital agreed to transfer Sam to St. John Hospital, where she was killed shortly after. She was only 34 years old.
On Monday, Gay O’Neill, Sam’s mother and executor of his estate, filed a lawsuit against the province, through B.C.’s Minister of Health, Providence Health Authority and the local public health authority, Vancouver Coastal Health, alleging that the defendants inflicted further pain and suffering on her daughter when St. Paul’s Hospital refused to kill Sam as requested.
“The circumstances surrounding the removal and Ms. O’Neill’s access to MAID caused and exacerbated Ms. O’Neill’s severe physical and mental suffering and denied her a dignified death.” said.
Gay O’Neill also recounted her final conversation with her daughter, which apparently took place in a bathroom shortly before Sam was transferred to hospice care.
“We were allowed to say a quick goodbye and I said to her, ‘Sam, I’m so sorry this happened,’ and she said, ‘Well, you can’t help it,'” Gay recalled.
“We love you” the family said to each other before Sam was given painkillers and sedatives to make the journey to St. John easier. Sam’s father, Jim O’Neill, was with him in the ambulance.
“It was really hard,” he said, “to watch her writhe in pain, groan, lose consciousness, never to regain consciousness.”
Jim O’Neill He described the experience as “horrifying” and “brutal.”
Moreover, the O’Neills claim that Sam never chose to go to St. Paul’s in the first place. By refusing to perform MAiD, St. Paul’s is ” [Sam’s] “It’s a religious choice,” Gay argued.
“They can’t keep hurting people.”
In addition to Gay O’Neill, the lawsuit also includes two other plaintiffs who appear to be hostile to Catholic hospitals’ adherence to Catholic teaching. One of the plaintiffs is a group called Death with Dignity Canada, whose vice-president Daphne Gilbert, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, has accused religious hospitals of trying to “stigmatize” the practice and those who seek assisted suicide.
“You’re being told that what you’re asking for is sinful,” she said.
Dr Jyoti Jayaraman, a so-called palliative care physician and co-plaintiff, also disputed that the hospital adheres to the Christian teachings on which it was founded.[Canadian Charter law] “Providence Health allows me religious freedom, which also means that they should not impose someone else’s religious beliefs on me,” she argued. “I believe that is what is happening: Providence Health’s religious beliefs are being imposed on me in a way that I can no longer provide care in a medically appropriate and ethical manner.”
In a statement Global NewsProvidence Health reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to Catholic teaching and its rejection of MAiD practices. However, the organization maintains that it will work with Vancouver Coastal Health facilities that are willing to implement MAiD practices. “If there are issues or concerns regarding transfers, both organizations will work to improve the transfer process where possible,” Providence Health said.
Health Minister Adrian Dix also released a statement, saying, “MAID is a legal end-of-life option. Although it is highly regulated in British Columbia, it is a legal end-of-life option. It is our job to make MAID available to people across the province.”
“Sam O’Neill was not denied MAiD and in fact received MAiD services at another facility,” Alex Schadenberg of the Anti-Euthanasia Coalition said in an email to The Blaze News, and suggested St Paul’s only crime was “refusing to kill a patient.”
Finally, he blasted the lawsuit as merely a political stunt. “Canada’s leading euthanasia lobby, Dying with Dignity, is committed to forcing all healthcare facilities to offer euthanasia,” he told The Blaze News. “Dying with Dignity will not accept any voice that disagrees with the requirement that all healthcare facilities must offer euthanasia.”
“The story is that Sam’s death is used to force all medical institutions, including religious ones, to practice euthanasia.”
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