The Delta Hospice Society has been granted intervenor status in a legal case, giving it the chance to argue in favor of euthanasia-free health facilities in front of the B.C. Supreme Court.
(LifeSiteNews) — The pro-life Delta Hospice Society (DHS) has been granted intervenor status in a legal case involving a faith-based hospital, meaning it can now present critical arguments before British Columbia’s Supreme Court to advocate for euthanasia-free medical spaces.
According to a press release from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, Chief Justice Ronald A. Skolrood granted the DHS intervenor status on April 1 in a case related to the government “putting pressure on faith-based healthcare facilities in British Columbia to offer Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) to palliative care patients.”
The granting of intervenor status means the DHS “present critical arguments and evidence to the court" to advocate for euthanasia-free healthcare facilities.
The particular case in which the DHS can intervene in involves 34-year-old Samantha O’Neill, who was placed in Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital in early 2022, where she was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer. The JCCF noted that in 2023, O'Neill said she wanted to be euthanized via MAiD.
However, because the hospital is run by Providence Health Care Society, a Catholic-based community, St. Paul's Hospital refused to euthanize O'Neill, in accordance with infallible Church teaching.
O’Neill died in April of 2023 while she was being transferred to another hospital that would consent to her euthanasia request.
As a consequence of the ordeal, O'Neill's mother Gaye is now suing “Providence Health Care Society and the Province of British Columbia, arguing that her daughter suffered needless pain and that her Charter rights to freedom of conscience and religion and to life, liberty, and security of the person had been violated,” the JCCF explained.
By allowing the DHS as an intervenor, the JCCF said it will try to encourage the court to consider “that many terminally ill patients do not want to be asked about their interest in euthanasia and desire a MAID-free space in their final chapter.”
“Indeed, they will argue that the Charter section 7 right to life, liberty, and security of the person demands that patients have access to palliative care spaces affirming the value and dignity of life,” noted the JCCF.
Angelina Ireland, President of the DHS, noted that her organization is looking “forward to confirming Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for Canadians who seek life-affirming spaces during their illnesses, so they are not deprived of life, liberty and the security of the person.”
Lawyer for the JCCF, Allison Pejovic, also stated, “There are many terminally ill palliative care patients in British Columbia who desire to spend their final days without being asked if they want their life ended by their health care provider. It is important that these patients are able to access a MAID free space which upholds their human dignity, liberty, and bodily autonomy.”
The most recent reports show that MAID is the sixth-highest cause of death in Canada. According to Health Canada, in 2022, 13,241 Canadians died by MAID lethal injections. This accounts for 4.1 percent of all deaths in the country for that year, a 31.2 percent increase from 2021.
As for the DHS, it has launched a “Do Not Euthanize Defense Kit” so that vulnerable Canadians can “protect themselves” from “predatory” healthcare workers who push euthanasia.
