Canada's ‘dystopian’ offer to American veteran sent her sprinting back to US health care system
Kristin Logan and Donovan James moved to Canada in chase of the free healthcare dream, and left after encountering a "dystopian" system offering death in place of treatment.
Kristin Logan and Donovan James say they moved to Canada with their sights set on the financial and medical benefits of publicly funded healthcare — but say they encountered a "dystopian" system that offered medically assisted death before cancer treatment, prompting them to return to the United States.
"Canada has been slowly sliding into an entire dystopian situation. The way they've expanded the MAID system is frightening. It was never supposed to be used this way, to be offered so easily and so upfront when a person gets sick. I think it's evil," James told Fox News Digital.
"It was the most heartbreaking experience, to basically be set up to die. And if I wanted to live, I had to take my life into my own hands and leave the country. It's pretty dystopian to think about now, to get information about ways that I can end my life and what the end of my life looks like before I'd even gotten an oncology appointment," Logan continued.
SON SOUNDS ALARM AFTER FATHER'S MEDICALLY ASSISTED DEATH IN CANADA: WAY PAST APPROPRIATE'
Kristin Logan and Donovan James say they moved to Canada hoping to benefit from its publicly funded healthcare system but returned to the United States after encountering what they described as a "dystopian" system that offered medically assisted death before cancer treatment. (Kristin Logan and Donovan James)
Logan said she was first diagnosed in September 2023, leaving Canada later that month to get initial treatment. She later had a bowel obstruction in March 2024. She had to leave the country again, and then returned in April 2024 before the cancer returned in December 2024.
The couple decided to leave Canada in January 2025 and officially moved back to the United States in May of that year.
MAID — Canada's medical assistance in dying program — is described by Health Canada as "a health service that allows eligible people to receive help from a medical practitioner in ending their life."
According to Kristin and Donovan, MAID was the best initial solution Canada offered to her upon her diagnosis. The Atlantic has reported that MAID now accounts for about one in 20 deaths in Canada, "surpassing countries where assisted dying has been legal for far longer," with some raising concerns the program has become too expansive.
"They should be focusing on treating people and helping people live, but instead they've expanded the system as a kind offer because they pretty much assume you're going to die," he continued.
GRANDDAUGHTER SAYS GRANDMA REJECTED MAID BEFORE LETHAL PROCEDURE, ‘I DON’T WANT THE DEATH SHOT’
Donovan James and his wife, Kristin Logan, during her cancer treatment at a hospital. (Kristin Logan and Donovan James)
James, a Canadian citizen living in the United States with a green card, is the husband of Kristin Logan, a U.S. Air Force veteran who has stage four ovarian cancer.
They moved to Canada to get ahead of potential financial difficulty in the case of a future medical crisis to avoid "ever going bankrupt" — a hypothetical that crashed into reality following Kristin’s three separate travels back to America in a desperate fight for her life due to high wait times and lack of resources available in the Canadian healthcare system.
Logan had multiple emergencies and hospital trips during her time in Canada when a second bowel obstruction shifted her and her family’s fight or flight into overdrive to find a plan to save her life.
CANCER TREATMENT DELAYS SURGE ACROSS US AS DOCTOR WARNS SYSTEM ‘NEEDS FIXING IMMEDIATELY’
Kristin Logan, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer while living with her husband and child in Canada. (Kristin Logan and Donovan James)
James said Canadian medical providers told the family there were "no plan[s] to operate on her," that a hospital helicopter was unavailable for a transfer to Vancouver and that a doctor advised Logan to "leave the country" if she had the means. The family ultimately traveled to the United States for treatment.
"Kristin was deteriorating really fast… Ultimately, we had to pull the plug and take her off the machines at the hospital and risk everything to put her in the car, drive all the way down Vancouver Island, sail across the ocean straight on a ferry, continue down over the border back into Seattle to get her immediate emergency surgery," James said.
"The surgeon said had she waited another day, she would have gone septic and died in Canada," he continued.
THE MEDICARE FOR ALL TRADE-OFFS SOCIALISTS AREN'T TALKING ABOUT, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS
The ferry Kristin was emergency evacuated on the left, with an image of her in a wheelchair about to board on the right. (Kristin Logan and Donovan James)
"[It] was devastating and shocking. I was only 43 years old when I was given this diagnosis… It made me very angry that I had been chasing this disease for nine months and had been stymied at just about every turn by the healthcare system in Canada," Logan continued.
"Americans don't get enough Canadian news to know just how much Canadian healthcare has declined over the last couple [of] decades. It's always had this problem, but now it's just so much more worse and dystopian with this M.A.I.D. program that they've introduced - and it was never supposed to be used this way," James said.
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British Columbia has announced an expansion of services for women with gynecological cancer. According to the Fraser Institute's 2025 report, the reported median wait time for gynecology was 25 weeks from referral by a general practitioner to consultation with a specialist, followed by 15.6 weeks from specialist consultation to treatment.
Health Canada, the lead federal department for the MAID program in Canada, did not immediately respond to Fox Digital's request for comment.
