Debate on forced mental health treatment continues as one woman’s costs top $800K – CBC
One side argues patients given too much freedom to reject treatment, other says it yields better outcomes
Jul 18, 2025
In the fight to better help people with severe and persistent mental illness in Ontario — which can sometimes result in costly detention in jails and hospitals — two opposing camps are lobbying the Ministry of Health in very different directions.
On one side are those who think unwell patients are given too much freedom to reject treatment, putting them at risk of having their mental illnesses progress and become entrenched.
On the other side are the patient advocates who say there are already enough mechanisms to force treatment on people, that giving patients the help they ask for leads to better outcomes, and that insufficient community support is the real problem.
