The British Columbia government rolled out a plan to provide euthanasia and assisted suicide to patients of a Catholic Hospital – by building a facility next door to the hospital. It is to be connected to the hospital by a corridor.

The Ministry of Health said this would allow the patients to avail of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) “without having to be transferred to another setting”.

The government said the “clinical space” will be staffed by the secular Vancouver Coastal Health staff and be connected by a corridor to the Catholic St. Paul’s Hospital.

Providence Health Care, the provider that operates St. Paul’s, said the ministry’s announcement supports and respects Providence’s position of not allowing MAiD to be performed within the walls of a Catholic facility or setting.

Providence “recognizes that in Canada patients have the legal right to choose medical assistance in dying if they are eligible and if that is their wish,” and already works closely with Vancouver Coastal Health to discharge patients and arrange their transfer for MAiD, the spokesperson said.

Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller said the government’s directive “respects and preserves Providence’s policy of not allowing MAiD inside a Catholic health care facility,” and the new patient discharge and transfer protocols are consistent with existing arrangements for transferring patients from its other hospice and palliative care sites, St. John Hospice, May’s Place.