A Catholic hospital in Ontario is raising eyebrows after it appointed a pro-euthanasia doctor to head its palliative care department.
According to The Catholic Register, Providence Hospital in Kingston, Ontario, named Dr. Danielle Kain as director of palliative care on July 1. Palliative care is generally defined as specialized treatment designed to keep a patient comfortable, and it is useful for those who are elderly or terminally suffering. Often, it’s seen as the antithesis of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Yet Kain’s past work as both an advocate and practitioner of euthanasia seems to fly in the face of both her new position and the teaching of the Catholic church.
In 2018, Kain published a personal reflection on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) — Canada’s euthanasia law — in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. “At the ensuing team debrief,” Kain wrote, “I was struck by how rare it is for health care providers to be so deeply moved together; we realized that a medically assisted death could be both poignant and peaceful.”
She has also advocated that all publicly-funded institutions, including Catholic hospitals, should be forced to offer MAiD to their patients, and has said that those physicians who have conscientious objections should be forced to refer their patients to MAiD-friendly doctors.
Kain’s appointment has prompted an outcry among a number of Catholic organizations including the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians. They have made an appeal to the local ordinary, Archbishop Michael Mulhall, to intervene.
“If we are hiring her, a public promoter of euthanasia, we are falling short in the promotion of Catholic values and the understanding of the human person. We have already demonstrated in the hiring process that we are not following the Health Ethics Guide,” Dr. Pascal Bastien, an internal medicine specialist in Ottawa, told The Catholic Register. Bastien is one of 20 Catholic medical professionals who wrote a letter to Archbishop Mulhall expressing concern.
“Our Catholic hospitals are being usurped by people who are fundamental opponents of what Catholic faith is about,” Bastien pointed out.
