DEPROGRAMMED: A ‘kind offer’ of death sent this couple running from universal health care

Kristin Logan and her husband, Donovan James, say they left Canada after her cancer diagnosis and repeated medical emergencies exposed what they describe as serious delays and gaps in care. They also say information about medically assisted death was offered before Logan had seen an oncologist, an experience they found distressing and which helped prompt their return to the United States.

Logan, a US Air Force veteran with stage four ovarian cancer, was diagnosed in September 2023 and later suffered bowel obstructions. James says Canadian providers could not arrange surgery or a helicopter transfer, so the family travelled to Seattle for emergency treatment; a surgeon reportedly told them that waiting another day could have led to sepsis and death. The couple moved back to the US in May 2025, while Canada’s MAID programme permits eligible people to receive help from a medical practitioner to end their lives.