The Other Side of the Straitjacket
A Daughter’s Story of Mental Illness and Assisted Dying
By Alicia Duncan
As a psychiatric nurse, Donna Duncan knew how to convince authorities that she had the capacity to choose a medically assisted death. Did she?
When Donna Duncan chose medical assistance in dying (MAiD), her daughter Alicia searched for understanding. How had a woman struggling with mental health challenges been allowed to make such a choice?
Looking for answers, Alicia succeeded in launching a police investigation, the first in Canada. What began as a private heartbreak quickly became a matter of national controversy as she uncovered troubling gaps in medical safeguards, exposing a system that often prioritizes policy over people, especially those living at the margins. The Other Side of the Straitjacket lays bare the human cost of end-of-life legislation and the devastating consequences of unrecognized mental health struggles.
- Non-fiction, 224pp
- Published by Lighthouse Grove Press
- ISBN 978-1-069550-41-5 (paperback)
- ISBN 978-1-069550-42-2 (ebook)
- 5.5″ x 8.5″
- To be published August 2026
- Paperback: CA $24.95 / US $21.95
- Ebook: CA $15.95 / US $13.95
THE ASSOCIATION OF
BOOK PUBLISHERS
OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
PO BOX 16067
New Westminster Station Queen’s Park
New Westminster, BC V3M 6W6
Canada
info@tidewaterpress.ca
Telephone: (604) 512-9997