Christian doctors' meeting with minister raises flags for assisted dying advocates

A meeting between Manitoba's health minister and a Christian doctors' group lobbying to ensure physicians don't have to assist with death is raising concerns among advocates for doctor-assisted dying.

On Monday, Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen met with Larry Worthen, the executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Society (CMDS), a group touring the country to gather support for their view that doctors with religious objections to assisted dyingshouldn't be required to refer patients to other physicians.

The head of the Christian doctors' group called the meeting with the minister "very positive"and said he's happy with Manitoba's stance that doctors with conscience-based objections won't be requiredto provide patients with a referral to another doctor.

A spokesperson for anational advocacy group for physician-assisted dying said they're concerned about the minister's meetingwith the Christian organization.

"Doctors have a duty not to abandon their patients,"said Dying with Dignity Canada CEO Shanaaz Gokool, who says groups like CMDS are trying to stall efforts to allow patients access to assisted death.

The Nova Scotia-based Christian Medical and Dental Society is currently fighting in Ontario's top court to force the province to reverse its policy that requires doctors who religiously object to physician-assisted suicide to refer patients, Gokool said.

In June, medicallyassisted dying became legal in Canada following a ruling by the Supreme Courtin 2015. In Ontario, the province created a referral system that allows physicians unwilling or unable to provide medically assisted dying to connect patients with doctors who are willing.

• Supreme Court says yes to doctor-assisted suicide in specific cases

In Manitoba, doctors don't need to provide a referral. They must only direct patients to reliable information sources such as the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority's website.

Website, phone number insufficient: ethics prof

CMDS head Larry Worthen said the grouprepresents 5,000Christian doctors and is "not OK with the fact that people are going to be getting euthanized or having assisted suicide"and doctors shouldn't be required to be involved at all.

"We're obviously opposed to [doctor-assisted death] because we don't think that's in the best interest of patients,"said Worthen.

However, University of Manitoba ethics professor Arthur Schafer said doctors have an obligation not to abandon their patients. Directing patients to a website or phone number isn't good enough, he said.

"Someone who is dying of cancer or completely paralyzed shouldn't have to be contacting the health-care system. The health-care system should come to them if their own physician won't provide the needed medical care,"Schafer said.

In 2015, Schafer sat on a provincial-territorial expert panel, which made recommendations on assisted dying to all Canadian provinces.

He said doctors should be referring patientsdirectly to another physician or the provincial team that's handling requests for assisted deaths.

"If you as a physician can't do that, then you ought to be in pathology or sports medicine or some branch of medicine where you aren't dealing with patients who might need to know what the end of life options are,"he said.

"If vulnerable patients are being left in the lurch, that's contradictory to physician ethics, and it will be challenged in the courts and overturned."

Gokool agreed and saidsome patients may not have access to the internet to getinformation about physician-assisted death, especially those in nursing homes.

Anna Ziomek, the registrar for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, said the provincial policy is fair and respects both the patient's right and a doctor's right to refuse because of conscientious objection.

She argued against claims that directing patients to a website or phone number isn't sufficient.

"It's hard to imagine that there would be a patient who wouldn't be able to access a website or a telephone number," Ziomek said.