It remains to be seen whether the new Chatham-Kent Hospice, slated to welcome its first patient next week, will offer doctor assisted suicide.
A legislative panel is still working on developing guidelines for doctor assisted suicide in Canada after the Supreme Court struck down the ban last year.
Chatham-Kent Hospice Board Chair Jennifer Wilson says the issue has come up, but a decision has not been made.
"Hospice is all about choice and it's all about the sanctity of life, and on this particular issue they kind of come head-to-head, so we're going to be talking more about that," Wilson tells BlackburnNews.com. "It's very complicated. It's very hard to make a decision when we don't know what the legislation is."
The hospice opens its doors on April 11 and will start welcome roughly 2 patients a week, to start.
At an open house on Tuesday volunteers, donors, local politicians and members of the media got to step inside the hospice for the first time.
It has 10 beds, board rooms, a reflection pool and a fully equipped medical spa for those seeking end of life care.
The community rallied to raise over $5-million for the project; $3-million for the building and another $2-million to sustain the facility.
The Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network will provide $920,000 annual for operating costs.
All patients will be process through the Erie St. Clair Community Care Access Centre.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance has previously said doctor assisted suicide would not be offered at the St. Joseph's campus of the CKHA, but a decision has not been made on whether it will be offered on the other side of the building.
