Quebec Judge Won’t Exempt Church-Supported Palliative Care Home From MAID Law

A Superior Court judge has denied a request from Montreal’s Roman Catholic archdiocese for an exemption to a Quebec law requiring all palliative care centres in the province to provide medical assistance in dying. Justice Catherine Piché ruled March 1 that Quebecers’ right to choose their medical care—including a doctor-assisted death—outweighs any infringement of religious freedom. The archbishop’s office filed the court challenge to the law in early February and sought to have a church-supported palliative care home in Montreal—St. Raphael’s—immediately exempted from the requirement until the case goes to trial. “When it comes to the right to chose medical care and to obtain access to medical assistance in dying, the public interest is fundamental,” Justice Piché wrote in her ruling. “Despite the plaintiffs’ significant interest in protecting their religious beliefs, this interest has less legal weight than the right of Quebecers to access the care of their choice, including medical assistance in dying, at St. Raphael’s home.”...