Medical Coercion
There’s a framework for what happens when people are deemed too mentally ill to make decisions about their own healthcare. In Ontario you can be hospitalized against your will or treated against your will. IJB investigations have found that people challenging their medical coercion face low odds of success. And people seeking mental health care at small and rural hospitals are being held against their will at disproportionately high rates thanks to a lack of specialists and resources.
When help means losing choice: The reality of rural mental health care
Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare’s two cottage-country hospitals are not built for mental health care. Yet hundreds of people come to them every year in need of it. And the hospitals’ emergency departments must somehow meet that need.
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Heather Lafleur, who is contesting a serious mental-illness designation and mandatory treatment order, was photographed at a Toronto park, Friday May 29, 2026. Photo By Peter J Thompson/National Post].
Ontarians contesting involuntary care face low likelihood of success, IJB analysis shows
Most provinces have a framework for what happens when people are deemed unable to make decisions about their own health. Some provinces are expanding these, and Ontario’s leaders have mused about doing so.
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Behind the reporting: How, and why, we dug into medical coercion
We’ve all gotten medical advice we didn’t follow. But sometimes you’re deemed too sick – too crazy – to ignore medical advice.
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