‘Assisted dying’ facility opens on campus of Catholic hospital in Canada

A reporter who lives near Vancouver has learned that a “medical assistance in dying” (MAiD) facility has opened on the campus of a Catholic hospital at the behest of the British Columbia government — despite the fact that MAiD is explicitly against the teachings of the Catholic church.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Emails have revealed that a MAiD facility has opened on the campus of St. Paul’s Catholic Hospital in Vancouver.

• The facility aims to bypass a religious exemption contract which exempts St. Paul’s from committing euthanasia deaths.

• Government officials faced increased pressure to force Catholic hospitals to commit MAiD after a 2024 lawsuit.

THE DETAILS:

In a post for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC), reporter Terry O’Neill writes that a government-ordered MAiD clinic has opened on the campus of St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver, while another such facility is currently being built on the new St. Paul’s on False Creek Flats, three miles from the downtown location. O’Neill also reported that two Catholic hospice homes now share space with MAiD facilities.

The Catholic healthcare facilities are run by Providence Health Care, which is operated by the Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver. Despite the fact that medically-assisted killing is against the teachings of the Catholic church, British Columbia’s provincial government reportedly forced the MAiD facilities on the Catholic healthcare system after relentless outside pressure in November 2023.

Though there have been no press releases or official announcements surrounding the opening of these facilities, O’Neill uncovered emails from Vancouver Coastal Health through a freedom-of-information application showing that the clinic on the St. Paul’s campus opened on January 6 of this year. Though the current St. Paul’s Hospital is slated to close in a few years, the new St. Paul’s, scheduled to open in 2027, will also have a MAiD facility on campus.

New St. Paul's Hospital Construction (Spring 2025)

According to O’Neill, Providence Health currently has a contract in place with the provincial government stating:

• It will not commit abortions or euthanasia in its facilities.

• Patients who want either of these must first be transferred to the provincial system, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.

Presumably, now that Vancouver Coastal has facilities on the St. Paul’s campus, such transfers will be much easier to facilitate.

“This is incredibly sad news,” EPC International Chair Alex Schadenberg said in an interview. “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 BACKSTORY:

In 2023, 34-year-old Sam O’Neill sought a MAiD death at St. Paul’s, only to be refused due to the hospital’s Catholic affiliation. Though O’Neill transferred to another hospital in order to die, her story was exploited by pro-MAiD organizations, who put tremendous pressure on Catholic facilities like St. Paul’s to commit MAiD deaths.

In 2024, her family filed a lawsuit challenging religious exemption laws that allow hospitals to refuse to commit MAiD. The case was the impetus for provincial officials to step in and attempt to create MAiD spaces much closer to the Catholic hospital.

According to emails uncovered by O’Neill, patients now need only be wheeled down a corridor between connecting buildings in order to access state-sanctioned death.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Dr. Will Johnston, a Vancouver physician who heads an organization called Euthanasia Resistance B.C., likened the opening of the euthanasia facilities on Catholic spaces to totalitarianism.

“This is another example of zealots who won’t allow the population any freedom from euthanasia,” Johnston said. “They obviously control the provincial government … I think it’s totalitarianism, and it shows none of their claimed virtues of inclusion and diversity.”