Canadian Catholic priest says he was offered euthanasia twice in hospital

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (LifeSiteNews) — A Canadian Catholic priest says he was twice offered euthanasia while recovering in hospital from a hip fracture, noting that he was “very shocked” that he was asked about the procedure, which has become rampant in Canada.

Seventy-nine-year-old Father Larry Holland, from the Archdiocese of Vancouver, recalled in a recent interview posted by the diocese’s publication, the B.C. Catholic, that he was twice offered an option to, in essence, take his own life with the help of medical staff.

“There are some things you just don’t talk about to some people,” he said, adding, “I think I was very shocked.”

Fr. Holland said that euthanasia is “such a sensitive subject” after a doctor told him about so-called “Medical Assistance in Dying” (“MAID”), as it’s known, as an option should his recovery go downhill.

Fr. Holland broke his hip after falling in the bathroom on Christmas Day. He noted that he is not dying, despite being in the hospital, neither right after he broke his hip or now. He is currently recovering at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH).

The priest recalled how he could not believe that he was asked about assisted suicide despite staff at VGH knowing that he is a Catholic priest. He said he fell “kind of silent” after being asked by the doctor, who said, assisted suicide is “something they have to discuss with someone who’s been given a terminal diagnosis.”

Fr. Holland told the doctor that he was morally opposed to assisted suicide, but the doctor kept pressing it as an option.

After a few weeks, a nurse offered it to him again, claiming it was a form of “compassion.”

The priest noted that, in reality, euthanasia is “a false compassion, really.”

According to Vancouver Coastal Health, which runs VGH, as noted by the B.C. Catholic, staff may “consider bringing up MAiD based on their clinical judgment, provided they possess the necessary knowledge and skills to do so.”

Coastal Health also said staff are “responsible for answering questions when patients bring up the topic of MAiD.”

Fr. Holland said that, even when offered assisted suicide, he could “feel the temptation,” calling it a “human reaction,” as “We always look for the easy way out.”

However, he said turning down such a deadly offer only strengthens a person more and that going through pain “can encourage growth.”

“It can motivate you, it can open up new worlds, new vistas, new opportunities,” he said.

The Liberal government under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and now Mark Carney has worked to expand euthanasia 13-fold since it was legalized in 2016. Canada now has the fastest-growing assisted suicide program in the world. Meanwhile, Health Canada has released a series of studies on advanced requests for assisted suicide.

The expansion of euthanasia for the mentally ill is slated to become law in 2027 as a consequence of the passage of Bill C-7.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Canada’s Catholic bishops have said that they “support” Bill C-218, which is a bill that would stop the planned expansion of assisted suicide.

However, Canadian psychiatrist Dr. John Maher recently told MPs that he personally saw patients with mental illness offered state-sanctioned assisted suicide in violation of the country’s current euthanasia laws.

Offering assisted suicide places that person in ‘role of the devil,’ says archdiocese’s pro-life chaplain

When news of what happened reached the ears of Father Larry Lynn, the archdiocese’s pro-life chaplain, it was a shock.

“This must surely be among the most appalling examples of Canada’s coercive and insensitive euthanasia regime,” said Lynn. 

Fr. Lynn noted that medical practitioners offering assisted suicide to a person is bad enough, but especially when they know a person is a religious and known to oppose the deadly practice.

“It places the medical practitioner into the role of the devil, tempting a vulnerable person into mortal sin,” he said.

Fr. Lynn noted that he is concerned that pro-euthanasia groups, such as the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers, are trying to talk to Catholics about the procedure. He noted how a new document that they have brings this issue up.

The document reads: “Health care professionals may draw incorrect assumptions about a person’s views on MAiD; e.g., they may assume that a patient objects to MAiD because she is a Roman Catholic nun, and yet Roman Catholic nuns and others dedicated to a faith-based way of life have requested MAiD.”

There is no source for the booklet given, and Lynn called it “diabolical” that a nun is used as an example.

When it comes to assisted suicide, the province of British Columbia, under socialist NDP rule, has seen the practice skyrocket.

This has led to the province’s Catholic-based Providence Health Care being engaged in a legal battle with the government in court for a case in which the outcome will decide whether or not faith-based healthcare facilities will be forced to offer state-sanctioned euthanasia.

Euthanasia is now the sixth-highest cause of death in Canada, after it was not listed in Statistics Canada’s top 10 leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022.