Image by YouTube Screenshot

By Sam Kestenbaum January 9, 2018

A doctor who performs medically assisted deaths is being accused of “sneaking in and killing someone” at an Orthodox Jewish nursing home in Canada.

The Louis Brier Nursing Home in Vancouver has filed a complaint with the British Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons against Dr. Ellen Wiebe after she responded to 83-year-old Barry Hyman’s request to die, CBC reported.

An institution was preventing a patient from undergoing a medically assisted death. Dr. Ellen Wiebe fulfilled his wishes that he could die at home. Wiebe: “One person in Canada cannot tell another person in Canada not to exercise their rights.” https://t.co/VcW9m0vpDe

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

— Christina Frangou (@cfrangou) January 9, 2018

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Canada. The nursing home requires residents be transferred to another facility to have the procedure done. Hyman’s request to have die at the nursing home was turned down, but the family and the doctor went ahead with the action.

“It was the only home for Barry Hyman and he chose to die in his home and he had the right to make that choice,” Wiebe told the Canadian news site.

Hyman had suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with lung cancer. According to the CBC, Hyman told his family that he wanted to die and put in a formal request to have Wiebe carry out the procedure.

“The family wanted privacy so we just set up a time,” Wiebe said. “When my nurse and I arrived, went in to his room and closed the door.”

The nursing home’s CEO, David Keselman, called Wiebe’s actions “borderline unethical.”

“We have a lot of Holocaust survivors,” Keselman said. “They’re going to feel like they’re at risk when you learn someone was sneaking in and killing someone.”

Wiebe will now face a disciplinary hearing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

To read more about Ellen Wiebe, go here and here.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re in the middle of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount