(LifeSiteNews) — A Canadian doctor has been given only a minor reprimand after assessing a man for euthanasia outside of a Tim Hortons and then driving the man to the place where his state-sanctioned death with fatal injections took place.
Ontario doctor James MacLean was given six months’ probation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) for two infractions related to assisted suicide or so-called “MAiD” (Medical Assistance in Dying), as it’s known. MacLean had to appear before the committee to get a verbal “caution” of his conduct.
In one case, MacLean did not give the drug that paralyzes a person’s body muscles during an assisted suicide procedure. The person started to breathe after the doctor left the person’s residence, despite MacLean declaring the person dead.
The other case involved a man, Thomas Dillon, outside Tim Hortons. Dillon suffered from Crohn’s disease, and his death was flagged by the Ontario coroner’s “MAiD” death review, according to reports.
The CPSO said that a nurse practitioner first assessed the man after he asked for assisted suicide and was then seen by MacLean outside of a Tim Hortons parking lot. Dillon was approved for assisted suicide under Track 2, or when a death is not reasonably foreseeable but the person suffers from an allegedly “grievous and irremediable” medical condition.
The CPSO found that MacLean’s coffee shop meeting with this man was “concerning” and that “sensitive MAiD-related matters” should have been discussed in a professional setting instead.
“Based on the Respondent’s own account, other locations were not meaningfully explored at the time,” noted the panel.
“In the Committee’s view, this reflected a lack of the level of formality and care expected when assessing requests for MAiD.”
Additionally, the CPSO was concerned with the “quantity and nature” of the text messages between MacLean and Dillon, which showed remarks about the man’s family not approving of assisted suicide.
Both complaints were made against MacLean in 2024, with the CPSO concluding that MacLean “did not meet the standard of practice of the profession” and that he “displayed a lack of judgment.”
The CPSO noted that MacLean’s conduct “exposes or is likely to expose patients to harm or injury” in a total of five out of 20 charts looked at.
MacLean has been a practicing doctor since 1980 and, besides his probation, he will have to be under strict supervision, but it appears that he will still be allowed to be in contact with his assisted suicide “patients” but must undergo extra training for the practice.
Euthanasia was legalized in Canada in 2016 by the Liberal government of now former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Some provinces, such as Alberta under Premier Danielle Smith, are pushing back against it as much as possible.
Recently, a bill that places strict limits on who can get euthanasia and bans it for minors was passed by the majority of legislators in the province of Alberta.
In 2021, the federal government under Trudeau expanded euthanasia from killing “terminally ill” patients to also the chronically ill after the passage of Bill C-7. Since then, the government has sought to include those suffering solely from mental illness.
In February 2024, the federal government delayed the mental illness expansion until 2027 after pushback from pro-life, medical, and mental health groups, as well as most of Canada’s provinces.
The Liberal government under Trudeau and Mark Carney, however, 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 released a series of studies on advanced requests for assisted suicide.