How a B.C. court case could change medical assistance in dying across Canada
CBC
The policy that allows faith-based health-care providers to ban medical assistance in dying in their facilities is being tested now in B.C. Supreme Court. The plaintiffs want to see the policy struck down so patients don't have to transfer to another facility in the final moments of their lives.
If the case heads to the Supreme Court of Canada, the ramifications for the rest of the country could be significant. Here's why.
The number is increasing. In 2024, 16,499 patients were provided with MAID, up from 9,950 in 2021. This represented 5.1 per cent of all deaths in Canada in 2024.
Transfers for MAID can happen for any number of reasons, including a patient wanting to transfer from a hospital to die at home, for example.
Data from Health Canada’s annual reports on MAID show that in 2023, just under half of transfers for MAID were due to the policy of the facility where the patient was located. In 2024, this was true for a quarter of transfers. Data for 2021 and 2022 was not available.
The trial is happening in B.C., where roughly a third of MAID-related transfers were due to the policy of the facility in 2024.
But Health Canada data show such transfers are more common in other provinces, notably Manitoba (77 per cent) and Alberta (74 per cent). They are least common in the territories, P.E.I. and Newfoundland, some of which have no faith-based health-care facilities, and in Quebec, where such facilities are required to allow MAID.
The B.C. Supreme Court heard earlier this week from Sara Bergen, who is MAID director for the B.C. Ministry of Health. Part of her role is to liaise with officials in other provinces to understand how requests for MAID are handled in other jurisdictions. The following is based on her testimony.
B.C., Alberta and Manitoba and New Brunswick have policies requiring faith-based institutions to facilitate requests for information about MAID, but they are not required to allow it in their facilities. This is also the case in Newfoundland and Labrador, according to previous CBC reporting.
Saskatchewan and Ontario have no provincial policy and leave the decision up to individual institutions.
Quebec requires that assessment and provision of MAID be allowed in long-term and palliative care facilities, regardless of whether they are faith-based. A Quebec judge refused an application from Montreal's Roman Catholic Archdiocese for exemption to that law for one of its palliative care homes until the case goes to trial.
Nova Scotia’s policy is unclear, but at least one faith-based hospital in the province has a dedicated space where MAID can be administered.
P.E.I. and Yukon have no faith-based end-of-life care facilities.
It is not known if there are faith-based palliative care facilities or policies governing this in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
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