A Catholic priest in Canada who broke his hip was told by medical professionals at Vancouver General Hospital that he might want to consider assisted suicide, despite not being diagnosed as terminally ill.
The B.C. Catholic reports Father Larry Holland advised hospital staff that he is opposed to euthanasia, but was still told on at least three separate occasions, that he had the option of assisted suicide if his condition got worse.
“I think I was very shocked,” said the priest who is trained in health-care chaplaincy.
“There are some things you just don’t talk about to some people.”
DOCTOR INSISTED ON INFORMING PRIEST OF HIS ASSISTED DYING OPTIONS
He fell and fractured his hip on Christmas Day.
At last report, the 79-year-old was still in the healing process at the hospital, but he’s not dying and hasn’t received a terminal diagnosis.
Father Holland declared he was morally opposed to euthanasia to a doctor.
But the doctor insisted on telling him that he needed to inform him of his options for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).
FATHER HOLLAND RECALLS WHAT THE DOCTOR SAID ABOUT ASSISTED SUICIDE
The priest recalled the doctor saying it’s “something they have to discuss with someone who’s been given a terminal diagnosis,” which Father Holland hadn’t.
“He later explained he just wanted to make sure that, if a terminal diagnosis came up or not, I knew of the different services I had access to,” the priest added.
A nurse later reiterated the assisted suicide option.
Father Holland said the nurse seemed uncomfortable raising the topic and was likely doing so out of compassion because of the pain he was enduring.
“AN APPALLING EXAMPLE OF CANADA’S INSENSITIVE EUTHANASIA REGIME”
Father Larry Lynn, the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s pro-life chaplain, said he was shocked to hear about Father Holland’s case.
“This must surely be among the most appalling examples of Canada’s coercive and insensitive euthanasia regime.”
He said it’s disturbing when a healthcare provider suggests euthanasia with any patient, but particularly when the patient is a consecrated religious priest known to be morally opposed.
“It places the medical practitioner into the role of the devil, tempting a vulnerable person into mortal sin.”
“TO TORMENT SOMEONE WITH AN OFFER OF SUICIDE IS AN ATTACK ON THEIR IDENTITY”
Amanda Achtman, creator of an anti-euthanasia project called Dying to Meet You and ethics director of Canadian Physicians for Life, said initiating MAiD discussions in a medical setting is a form of coercion that attacks patients’ deepest convictions when they’re vulnerable.
She asserted that to “torment” someone who has deeply held beliefs, with an offer of MAiD, is “an attack on their identity,”
A spokesman for Vancouver Coastal Health which operates the hospital told The B.C. Catholic that “staff may consider bringing up MAiD based on their clinical judgment, provided they possess the necessary knowledge and skills to do so.”
Canada’s controversial MAiD program set a new record with 16,500 deaths through euthanasia in 2024.
That’s 1-in-20 deaths as total deaths approach 100,000 since the program was launched in 2016.
LEGISLATIVE MOVES TO RESTRICT ADVICE TO PATIENTS ABOUT ASSISTED DYING
Conservative Canadian MP Garnett Genuis has introduced An Act to Prevent Coercion of Persons Not Seeking Medical Assistance in Dying, which would prohibit federal employees from proactively offering or recommending MAiD.
The bill resulted from incidents of bureaucrats such as veterans counsellors trying to steer vulnerable people toward assisted dying.
The province of Alberta introduced legislation in March that would restrict regulated health professionals from providing information about MAiD to patients unless the patient brings it up.
Its Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act would also restrict the public display of MAiD information in medical facilities.
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