Lexi Daken was made to feel like a burden at Fredericton ER, father testifies
CBC
WARNING: This story contains details about suicide.
Lexi Daken's father says he doesn't believe his daughter wanted to die.
"I don't think she was a kid who wanted her life to end," Chris Daken told a coroner's inquest on Tuesday morning.
"I don't believe that was what her end goal was."
Daken said Lexi just wanted to get help and was made to feel like a "burden" on Feb. 18, 2021, when she went to the emergency department at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, where she waited nine hours.
"This was a kid that had a lot of future plans," Daken testified on the second day of the inquest into Lexi's death.
She loved sports and excelled at several, especially softball. She was a gifted student whose marks were all above 90, "with lots of hundreds," Daken said.
He said it was a family joke to feign disappointment in anything less than 100.
Daken said Lexi wanted to be a neurologist from the age of nine.
She also made long- and short-term plans with family members, including within hours of taking a fatal dose of pills the night of Feb. 23.
Daken and Lexi had gone to Saint John that evening to pick up a side-by-side. Daken said they chatted easily on the drive and returned to their Maugerville home between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
He went to bed about an hour later, with Lexi telling him, "Love you, Dad."
Around 2:30 a.m. or 3 a.m., Daken was awakened by a thump on the floor above him.
He found Lexi lying on the floor in the hallway.
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This First Person column is the experience of Mehdi M. Kashani, who lives in Toronto. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
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