Woman recalls moment she was told her mother was going to die by euthanasia with just 48 hours notice
Topics: BBC, TV And Film, Health
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: BBC
Topics: BBC, TV And Film, Health
Warning: This article contains discussion of depression and suicide that some readers may find distressing.
A Canadian woman has confessed to feeling ‘guilty’ after receiving 48-hour notice that her mother would be being euthanised.
Back in 2021, Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program granted Alicia Duncan’s mother eligibility to receive medical assistance in dying.
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Three years later, Alicia announced she was still against the practitioners’ decision to allow Donna Duncan, 61, to be euthanised and believed she should’ve been treated for depression instead.
Speaking to actor and disability rights activist Liz Carr during her new BBC documentary, Better Off Dead?, she recounted the story of her mother’s death.
Opening the heartbreaking segment, Liz, 52, revealed that Donna had been involved in a minor car accident.
After sustaining a concussion, the woman’s health reportedly began to decline.
Speaking about her late parent, Alicia explained: “My mum speculated that she had something called Central Sensitivity Syndrome, that the car accident had triggered.
“What we didn’t know is that she was restricting her diet. She would say that it would hurt to eat solid foods so she was pureeing everything, having soups.”
Alicia further revealed that her mother was experiencing bouts of paranoia and would worry about being ‘shot by a sniper’ whenever she left the comfort of her home.
“That’s when we started becoming extremely concerned that this might be a mental health issue,” she revealed.
It’s said that during the ordeal, the psychiatric nurse’s daughter received a text message from her mum’s common-law partner stating that she was looking into the beginning stages of Canada’s euthanasia programme - MAiD.
She claimed the family dismissed this train of thought as they believed there would be ‘no way’ that she would be approved for the programme.
However, a quick meeting with Donna revealed that she had been greenlit to be euthanised.
“So, we had less than 48 hours’ notice that my mum was going to die,” Alicia told Liz.
The documentary claims that the woman and her sister Christie Duncan gathered enough evidence for their mother to be taken into custody under the Mental Health Act.
However, at the end of the 48-hour hold, another assessment was allegedly completed and Alicia’s family was told their mother was dead.
“We received another message saying that my mum was dead and her body had been taken to a crematorium.”
It was stated that Donna had been fast-tracked for MAiD in October 2021 due to her condition being ‘terminal’ - a diagnosis the Duncan family refutes.
Alicia further complained if you are ‘depressed’ and ‘starve yourself to the point that you are malnourished’ they ‘bump you up to track one’.
Alicia added that she thought her mother’s issues with food were physical rather than mental before claiming her mum’s GP of 20 years ‘would not approve her to die’.
When asked by Liz how she would ‘move on’ from the death of her mother, Alicia added that she ‘feels guilty’ for not fighting ‘harder’ for her parent’s deteriorating health.
She said: “I don’t know, kidnapping her and taking her to the woods to keep her safe, you know?”
As per MailOnline, police in Abbotsford launched an investigation into Donna's MAiD death.
Alicia and her sister Christie reportedly requested the probe and claimed doctors should have been focusing on treating her mental health problems.
However, the police investigation was allegedly concluded without any arrests.
MAiD was first legalised in Canada in 2016 and was implemented to provide an option to those for whom death was unavoidable and foreseeable.
As per a report published in October 2023, there were 13,241 MAiD provisions reported in 2022, accounting for 4.1 percent of all deaths in the country.
At the time of writing, eligibility for MAID for persons suffering solely from a mental illness has been delayed until March 17, 2027.