Families want Canadian provinces to end MAID opt-out policy for faith-based hospitals

On the last day of Risha Golby’s life, she was forced out of the room at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver that had been her home for six weeks.

The room where her daughter’s drawings hung on the walls, and where she had found relative comfort while being treated for pancreatic cancer.

Golby, 47, was placed in an ambulance and driven along bumpy roads to an outpatient facility on the grounds of Vancouver General Hospital. Her family says every stage of the transfer caused her pain.

“They didn't even have a bed for her to lie in. So, we did our best to get her settled into a La-Z-Boy recliner,” said Ashley Freeman, Golby’s younger sister.

Minutes after the family got Golby in the recliner and said their goodbyes, a doctor administered medical assistance in dying (MAID), and she was gone. The family was then reportedly told to vacate the room because it needed to be cleaned for another patient.

“This is the worst day of your life, watching your sister die. And it's made so much worse by this policy that inflicts unnecessary pain, unnecessary distress on the patient, their family members, the whole health-care team that's trying to care for the patient,” said Freeman.

After Golby’s death in 2022, a clinical space run by Vancouver Coastal Health was created adjacent to St. Paul’s and is connected to the hospital by a corridor so patients do not have to be transferred elsewhere by ambulance. But advocates say that’s not good enough.

A spokesperson for St. Paul’s Hospital’s operator, Providence Health Care, wouldn’t comment on the case for privacy reasons but said the MAID policy aligns with the Catholic operator's core values.

“Providence has a long-standing moral tradition of compassionate care that neither prolongs dying nor hastens death, rooted in the belief that all life is sacred and in the dignity of the person," wrote spokesperson Shaf Hussain.

The B.C. government said at the time, while faith-based organizations may choose not to offer MAID services at their facilities, they are expected to work with health authorities to make sure the option is available to patients who choose it.

Dying With Dignity Canada says there are more than 100 forced transfers a year across the country, including one Vancouver-based doctor who had 44 patients forced to transfer in 2025 alone.

Provinces can legislate whether religious hospitals can prohibit MAID from taking place on their premises, and Quebec is the only province that does not allow faith-based institutions to opt out of performing MAID. 

In 2024, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Montreal and Archdiocese of Montreal took the issue to court. They filed a legal challenge arguing Quebec's end-of-life legislation violates religious freedom. 

That case is still before the courts.