Christian hospitals in Canada decline to take part in assisted suicide

Two Christian hospitals in Winnipeg, Manitoba have announced that they will not be performing assisted suicide in their respective institutions.

Although assisted suicide was legalized in Canada last June, the Concordia Hospital and St. Boniface Hospital said they will not be providing the legal service to their patients. The two hospitals, however, said that they will refer the patients to other groups that provide the service, World Magazine reported.

The Concordia Hospital, a Mennonite institution, placed an advertisement in a local newspaper stating that it had adopted a policy against Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) after it consulted its doctors and staff in June.

"We are committed to providing respect and dignity in care to every person throughout his or her life from conception to natural death. Concordia believes that providing healthcare is a ministry assigned to us by Christ and is expressive of our Anabaptist faith, values, and ethics," the advertisement stated.

The hospital added that the decision not to provide the service has been honored by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA).

However, there are some who do not believe that faith-based hospitals should be able to opt out of performing assisted suicides.

Arthur Schafer, director of the Center for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, argued that institutions do not have the same rights as individuals to conscientiously object from facilitating MAID.

"The people who work within those institutions have a conscience, the institution doesn't. Their belief, which is a legitimate religious conviction they have, shouldn't be imposed on patients, doctors, nurses or the general public," Schafer told CBC.

The WRHA said that the patients in faith-based institutions will be able to receive MAID in other facilities. An assessment by the MAID clinical team can either be performed outside or inside the faith-based facility, depending on the preference of the hospital. After the assessment, the MAID will be facilitated outside the faith-based institution.

"This ensures people from across the province can access the service, while respecting our commitment to the faith-based facilities," said a WRHA spokesperson.