Canadian sisters fail to halt mother's MAiD death despite emergency court order
Alicia and Christie Duncan tried to stop their mother Donna's assisted death by securing a Mental Health Act arrest warrant, but she was released and died by lethal injection four days later.
On October 24, 2021, Donna Duncan told her daughters she had been approved for Medical Assistance in Dying and that her death was scheduled for the following Tuesday under the streamlined ‘Track 1’ route, which is meant for patients whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable. Her daughters, Alicia and Christie, argued she was not terminally ill but suffering a severe mental-health crisis triggered by a car accident and pandemic isolation.
They secured an emergency arrest warrant under the Mental Health Act to have her placed in a psychiatric unit, yet she was discharged the same day without their consent. Four hours after leaving the ward, she died by lethal injection on October 29, after practitioners deemed her on a foreseeable trajectory toward death due to malnutrition. The sisters now advocate for tighter safeguards in Canada’s assisted-dying system, citing their experience as evidence of systemic failures.
Why it matters
The case highlights potential gaps in Canada’s assisted-dying safeguards for people with mental-health issues.
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