‘Mum wasn’t dying’: Daughter slams euthanasia ‘safeguards’

A daughter has warned that so-called safeguards under Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) regime are woefully inadequate after her mother was euthanised.

Alicia Duncan’s mother Donna was given lethal drugs days after being released from a psychiatric unit. She had previously been sectioned following an attempt to kill herself. Donna’s family believe that her physical symptoms were caused by a mental health crisis and that she should never have been approved for MAID.

The warning comes as Canada’s MAID criteria is expected to extend to those with only a mental illness. At the moment a person must have a physical condition to be deemed eligible.

‘Complete shock’

Donna started suffering from anxiety and paranoia following a concussion brought on by a road traffic collision and social isolation during the Covid pandemic. This developed into an eating disorder that left her dangerously underweight.

Initially rejected by her doctor for access to MAID and diagnosed with psychosomatic disorder, Donna found two other assessors willing to approve her application on the grounds that her death was deemed to be ‘reasonably foreseeable’ due to self-starvation.

Alicia described how she initially assumed her mother’s partner was talking about housekeeping when MAID was mentioned. After she realised what was happening, Alicia said: “I was completely in shock. Everything around me was muffled and I started shaking”.

Inadequate protections

Alicia explained that following her mother’s initial MAID appointment, “we used every legal tool available, including obtaining a warrant under the Mental Health Act, to try to keep her alive through all legal means.”

However, with her mum’s death scheduled in a matter of days, Alicia said: “There was nothing that we could legally do.”

Donna was sectioned for two days, but was released without Alicia’s knowledge. She found out by text message that her mum was killed under MAID just four hours after being discharged. She noted the disparity between her mum being sectioned to prevent her killing herself one day, but a couple of days later the “same wish to die was treated as an autonomous medical decision”.

An investigation into Donna’s death stalled after police were denied access to MAID assessment records on privacy grounds. Alicia criticised the system, saying: “safeguards existed on paper, but no one was independently checking whether they had actually been met”.

Systemic failures

In evidence submitted to MPs examining Westminster’s assisted suicide Bill, Alicia wrote: “my family’s experience highlights how even the most carefully designed laws are subject to scrutiny, challenge, and expansion once implemented. Legal systems are inherently designed to evolve, and safeguards are often undermined over time, no matter how robust.”

She added that “by requiring family inclusion only with the patient’s permission”, Canada’s law ignores the “devastating and often lifelong impact on families” of those who seek help from the state to die.

Alicia concluded: “Canada’s experience with MAID shows how safeguards that seem robust on paper can fail in practice. My mother’s death is a cautionary tale of vague criteria, inadequate oversight, and systemic failures.”