Daughter of woman “fast-tracked” for euthanasia says she needed mental health treatment

Image Credit: BBC Better Off Dead? screengrab via Youtube

A Canadian woman has shared about how her mother was fast-tracked for Canada’s assisted suicide program, and the guilt she has experienced since her mother’s death as she insists she needed mental health treatment after complications following a car accident.

Featuring in Liz Carr’s documentary “Better Off Dead?”, Alicia Duncan spoke to Carr about how she and her sister were given 48 hours’ notice of her mother’s death after her approval for Canada’s Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) program was fast tracked after she had starved herself.  

Duncan’s mother, Donna, had been in a minor car accident and suffered a concussion, however, her condition deteriorated over time with no explanation.

“My mom speculated that she had something called central sensitivity syndrome that the car accident had triggered,” she said. “What we didn't know was that she was restricting her diet. She would say that it would hurt to eat solid foods so she was pureeing everything, having soups.”

“She was very paranoid, she worried that if she left the house, she might be shot by a sniper at any moment,” she added. “And I think that's when we really started becoming extremely concerned that this might be a mental health issue.”

Alicia was given less than 48 hours' notice that her mother would end her life through Canada’s euthanasia program.

She’d been fast-tracked for euthanasia after starving herself to the point of severe malnutrition 💔

👉 Ask your MP to stop assisted suicide being rushed into… pic.twitter.com/jY7Aphj8Ak
— Right To Life UK (@RightToLifeUK) November 8, 2024

Duncan says that this behaviour was “completely uncharacteristic” of her mother. 

“I received a text message from my mom's common law partner he wanted us to know that my mom was in the beginning stages of looking into MAiD,” she said, speaking on how the topic of MAiD was brought up to her. “We just thought there was no way - there was no way she would be approved.” 

However, Donna was not only approved, but was fast tracked on the basis that her condition was terminal. Her daughters were only given 48 hours’ notice of her death.

Duncan stresses that her mother’s condition “wasn't terminal and she wasn't facing imminent death.” 

“However, if you're depressed, and you starve yourself to the point that you are malnourished they can bump you up to track one and you can die right away,” she added.

She and her sister had proceeded to gather evidence so that their mother could be taken into custody under the Mental Health Act. However, “At the end of the 48 hours hold they did another assessment,” she said. “We received a text message from my mom's partner that evening that my mom was dead and her body had been taken to a crematorium.”

Duncan also revealed that her mother’s approval for assisted suicide came from the head of the MAiD program and a nurse practitioner, with her second assessment being done over the phone without the doctor meeting her. She added that her mother’s GP. Who had known her for 20 years, had refused to approve her for MAiD.

“I don’t know how you move on from that,” said Carr.

Getting visibly upset, Duncan goes on to describe the guilt she feels for “not fighting harder” and for not “kidnapping her and taking her into the woods and keeping her safe. 

According to the Daily Mail, Donna’s MAiD death was investigated by the police in Abbotsford, after Ms Dunca and her sister Christie requested a probe into their mothers’ death. The investigation was concluded with no arrests made.

Canada legalised assisted suicide in 2016, but only allows for those who have a disability or a serious illness or disease to avail of the service. In 2022, the law was expanded to allow for those who suffer debilitating pain or disability to opt for assisted suicide, even if their death was not foreseeable. However, Canada is currently in the process of allowing expanding assisted suicide access even further, for those with mental health problems.   

“Better Off Dead?” is a BBC documentary by British TV star and disability activist Liz Carr. Carr, who suffers with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, has been vocal in her opposition to assisted suicide, and launched the documentary to provide arguments against it, as she explores Canada’s MAiD program, and speaks with UK campaigners on both sides of the argument. This comes as UK MPs are set to vote on an assisted suicide bill, and after the Dáil voted to approve of a report that recommends legalising assisted suicide.

Sandra Parda of the Life Institute commented saying: “This is such an awful story and our hearts go out to Ms Duncan and her family, who are suffering the tragic loss of their mother. All this shows is how legalising assisted suicide becomes a slippery slope where we then start to fail in giving real and appropriate help to those who suffer, and instead finding ways to hasten their death.”