I promise I won’t exclusively be covering MAID related topics, but I’ve saved the following article for a few months after I came across it - I just knew I had to show you.
The following article from the Walrus provides an inside look at the conflict of conscience some clinicians feel within Catholic institutions when patients require or request procedures forbidden by the Catholic doctrine. In most of Canada, if you find yourself within a St. _______ hospital, chances are you won’t have access to abortion, contraception, or assisted death there.
Here’s an excerpt from the article that struck me:
Some are challenging policies around abortion too. Janine Farrell, a former resident of the family health clinic at St. Joseph’s, devoted her research, which she presented to her colleagues in fall 2021, to improving abortion counselling and referrals at Catholic hospitals. The previous year, when Farrell talked with an ethicist at Unity Health, she felt he tried to dissuade her from working on the project. “You know you’re coming up against a hundred years of history here, right?” she recalls him saying.
Read more here:
As access to assisted dying expands for those with mental illness and/or disability in Canada, this issue of institutional conscientious objection seems to be brushed under the rug, doesn’t it?
More from the article:
Many legal experts and health-access advocates believe the restrictions in the [Catholic] ethics guide would not withstand a challenge based on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects equality and bodily autonomy. If a patient argued that prohibiting MAID, abortion, or other services on the premises of Catholic hospitals is a Charter violation, they might win, potentially forcing Catholic hospitals to provide those services.
[…]
Organizations like Dying With Dignity Canada say they would support a patient who wanted to launch a Charter challenge against MAID restrictions at faith-based hospitals. But legal cases are hard on patients, and Charter challenges take several years. Family members could take up the fight, but after a loved one’s death, they generally want to move on.
Why should publicly funded hospitals be allowed to limit access on religious grounds?
Do you have an answer? Send me an email at cafebioethics@gmail.com - I’d love to understand.
Last week I asked the question: Should MAID be accessible to those with disability and or mental illness? I’m not too surprised with the results of the poll; I’m glad I’m not alone with my pretzel brain:
At Café Bioethics, we have some new publications from our incredible authors we would like to share:
Locating Public Libraries in the Mental Health Care Continuum
By: Gianna Strand
During the 20th century, the American health system experienced rapid decentralization whereby hospitals were no longer the sole hub for receiving care. Read more:
When Obstetric Violence is Justified as a Teaching Tool: Unauthorized Pelvic Exams
By: Juliana Nicolais
A woman lies on an operating table, unconscious and unclothed. Upon waking she discovers that she was unknowingly given a pelvic exam by a medical student and that the most intimate part of her body had been invaded while she lay unaware. Read more:
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