Gaye O'Neill / National Post
CV NEWS FEED // The parents of a young Canadian woman who suffered from terminal cancer are suing a Catholic hospital for refusing to perform an assisted suicide on their daughter.
Gaye and Jim O’Neill, parents of Samantha O’Neill, are alleging in their suit that St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver violated Charter rights for publicly funded healthcare sites by denying her Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) on religious grounds.
O’Neill was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer in 2022, and she requested MAID in April 2024, according to the National Post.
St. Paul Hospital opted to sedate and transfer O’Neill, 34, to another facility because its administrators at Providence Health Care do not allow assisted suicide procedures at its facilities.
However, as CBC News reported, the family wrote in its statement of claim it filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court last week that the circumstance of the transfer was “undignified” and led to the worsening of O’Neill’s already extreme physical and psychological pain.
“In the course of her transfer, Ms. O’Neill was first moved to a commode,” the statement reported. “The last time her parents saw her conscious and to say their final goodbyes was while Ms. O’Neill sat on the commode.”
The statement continued, alleging that O’Neill “was writhing and moaning in pain and had to receive a further injection of pain medication,” during the ambulance transfer, adding further that the patient “spent her last hours unable to see, hear or feel any of the people who had gathered to support her.”
Although O’Neill was ultimately granted access to MAID, the lawsuit states that “the circumstances surrounding the forced transfer and Ms. O’Neill’s access to MAID caused and exacerbated Ms. O’Neill’s egregious physical and psychological suffering, and denied her a dignified death, including the ability to say goodbye to her family and loved ones.”
CBC News also noted in its report that pressure from O’Neill’s family and pro-MAID organizations led to Canadian Health Minister Adrian Dix striking a deal with the Catholic hospital.
St Paul patients may now access assisted suicide procedures at a clinical space nearby that will be complete in August 2024. Vancouver Coastal Health staff will operate the space.
According to a June 19 report from The BC Catholic, Dix had formerly expressed around the time of O’Neill’s death that “St Paul’s Hospital acted according to protocol and praised its contributions to the provincial health system, saying the overall relationship with faith-based healthcare providers is beneficial.”
Archbishop Micheal J. Miller of Vancouver responded to the new arrangement, saying it “respects and preserves Providence’s policy of not allowing MAID inside a Catholic health care facility,” according to The BC Catholic.
Any Catholic healthcare institution that agrees to provide MAID would be “in violation of Church teachings,” the Archbishop continued, adding that such a move would “deeply betray the identity of these institutions as Catholic and would not be in keeping with the Church’s moral teachings on the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person.”
