(LifeSiteNews) — A Canadian doctor who assessed a man for euthanasia outside a Tim Hortons and then drove him to the place where his state-sanctioned death with fatal injections took place has been allowed to continue to practice medicine while on probation.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, 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).
However, despite the six-month probation, he shockingly has been allowed to continue working as a doctor and to approve people for MAiD.
The CPSO said in a statement that the “undertaking” against MacLean “imposes extensive oversight and monitoring requirements on Dr. MacLean’s practice.”
The measures include “mandatory clinical supervision for a minimum of six months, frequent supervision meetings, ongoing review of his MAID patient charts, regular written reports to (the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario) from the clinical supervisor, and completion of mandatory professional education relating to MAID, consent, documentation, professional boundaries, and professional behaviour.”
After his six-month probation, MacLean will be mandated to submit to an assessment of his medical practice, including a full overview of all his charts and observations of his care with patients.
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 Thomas Dillon outside a Tim Hortons restaurant. Dillon suffered from Crohn’s disease, and his death was flagged by the Ontario coroner’s “MAiD” death review, according to reports.
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.”
Euthanasia was legalized in Canada in 2016 by the Liberal government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Recently, a bill that places strict limits on 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 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.
