In a 2018 Canadian Medical Association Journal article, Kain and a colleague published a personal reflection on MAiD, citing two individual cases in which they were involved.
“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.”
On social media, Kain has argued that all publicly funded institutions, including Catholic hospitals, should be compelled to offer MAiD. She has also expressed support for the Effective Referral Policy: doctors who have conscientious objections to euthanasia must refer patients to MAiD-offering doctors. In a 2016 Twitter post, Kain wrote: “Making an effective referral is not an infringement of rights.”
In Catholic ethics, a MAiD referral would constitute a proximate material cooperation with an immoral act.
A variety of professional associations of Canadian Catholic health care providers, including the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians, have made appeals to both the CHSO and the local ordinary, Archbishop Michael Mulhall, to intervene.
According to the website, the CHSO “appoints the board members and CEO of each organization; provides CHSO member organizations with tools and guidelines to ensure a certain consistency in meeting sponsor expectations; approves any changes to member organization mission, values, or philosophy.”