Vancouver palliative care doctor tells court he resigned rather than authorize MAID transfer
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A Vancouver palliative care doctor who says she chose to resign rather than authorize a patient transfer for the purpose of medical assistance in dying (MAID) made her case in BC Supreme Court this week.
Dr. Jyoti Jayaraman is one of three plaintiffs in the case, which challenges the constitutionality of banning the procedure in buildings of publicly funded, faith-based health care facilities.
The others are Gay O’Neill, the mother of a woman who died in 2023 after being transferred from St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver to receive MAID, and Dying with Dignity Canada.
In his affidavit, Jayaraman says he resigned from his role providing palliative care at two Vancouver hospices in early 2023 because operation of one was being handed over to Providence Health Care.
Providence, which is one of the defendants in the case, does not allow MAID in its facilities due to the Catholic Church’s opposition to euthanasia.
This means Jayaraman will no longer be able to provide MAID to patients in their rooms and will instead be forced to authorize transfers due to the institution’s religious beliefs.
She says she has provided MAID for 44 patients, who were later forced to transfer facilities for the procedure.
“I have observed that forced transfer causes unnecessary physical, psychological and spiritual suffering. When a person is nearing the end of life, every activity can be excruciating. And when a patient has only 15 minutes left to live, every minute feels like an hour,” he said in the affidavit.
“While I know I cannot provide a bed maid, I am being forced to increase a person’s suffering. I find this most distressing.”
Lawyer Shauna Gersbach, representing defendant Vancouver Coastal Health, said in her cross-examination of Jayaraman that the health authority has created spaces specifically for MAID provision next to Providence-run hospitals and hospices, known as adjacent spaces.
These nearby locations are operated by Vancouver Coastal Health.
B.C.’s Supreme Court will hear a case asking whether publicly funded faith-based hospitals should be allowed to prevent patients from receiving medical aid in dying, known as MAID. The challenge, based on Charter rights, has been brought by the advocacy organization Dying with Dignity Canada and the parents of Samantha O’Neill, a Vancouver woman who was forced to leave the hospital to access MAID.
In fact, Gersbach said Jayaraman was the MAID provider for the first two patients to have the procedure at Shoreline, next door to St. Paul’s Hospital.
They entered into evidence the email in which Jayaraman wrote praising the staff for how smoothly the processes ran and how patient care was kept front and center.
“From your perspective, the fact that this accommodation is built to facilitate patients requiring access to MAID in an adjacent location, as located adjacent to hospices, is not sufficient?” Gersbach asked.
“No,” said Jayaraman.
“Is it fair to say that anything short of patients being able to receive MAID in a faith-based facility would violate your moral and ethical beliefs?” Gersbach pressed on.
“Yes,” he replied.
“So there is no scope for compromise?” The defense side interrogated.
“No,” said Jayaraman.
In her affidavit, Jayaraman said transfers to adjacent locations can also be disruptive because they mean that the last minutes of a patient’s life, which she says should be spent in a quiet, sacred place, are outweighed by logistics.
The Province of British Columbia, Providence Health Care and Vancouver Coastal Health have all been named as defendants in the case.
The plaintiffs are expected to wrap up their case later this week. After this the defense will start presenting evidence.
