Donna Duncan was 61 years old and a retired psychiatric nurse in British Columbia, Canada. She was not dying of cancer or any terminal illness: she was struggling with anxiety and depression following a car accident in 2020.
On October 22 and 24, 2021, two healthcare professionals approved her for euthanasia. The family was notified with just 48 hours’ notice. Her daughters, Alicia and Christie, rushed to court and obtained an order under the Mental Health Act to admit her to a psychiatric unit and stop the procedure.
It worked, but only for a few days. The hospital discharged her without notifying them, and on October 29, they gave her the lethal injection. Alicia and Christie never got to say goodbye to their mother. The case ended up in the hands of the Abbotsford police, one of the first police investigations into a procedure of this kind in Canada.
