Heather Elliot is running out of time to keep her mother Ellen Elliot, an 89-year-old Alzheimer's patient, from being kicked out of St. Jude's Nursing Home on Friday.

"Friday is drawing near and I'm not sure what's going on," Heather told CTV News.

In a letter to the family, St. Jude's staff cited concerns that Ellen was agitated, not sleeping, and suggested she may have entered the rooms of other residents at night.

Heather won't allow nurses to administer a sedative to her mother to help her sleep. If Ellen doesn't start taking medication, she'll be forced to leave St. Jude's.

Now Heather's been told the process to have her mother involuntarily committed to hospital has begun.

"It's been a nightmare for me. I haven't slept. I haven't eaten. I've worried terribly about my mother, and what's going to happen to her," she said. "I don't want to see her taken to a hospital where they'll just try different drugs on her."

Vancouver Coastal Health won't comment directly, but insists it's not an unusual step to have a resident assessed in hospital.

At the same time, the story has sparked a public debate about who gets to decide the course of treatment when Ellen Elliot no longer can.

Gloria Gutman, the president of the International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse, believes the situation could bring up legal implications.

"It is interesting because it's one that starts to get onto issues of Charter rights and freedoms," she said.

Alice Mann cares for relatives who have Alzheimer's. She says not everyone treats people suffering from the disease properly.

"It's an ongoing problem where it's easier to slap a pill in their mouth rather than to actually deal with them," she said.

Health Minister Kevin Falcon sides with the nursing home.

"That is a very challenging situation for the institution because they have to try and operate it for the benefit of all the patients there," he said. "I would hope they'd be able to resolve it, but if they can't, I would support the decision that St. Jude's has to make."

Heather continues to speak with staff about her mother's care, as a lawyer suggested she do. She holds on to the hope that they'll allow her mother to stay at the nursing home drug-free.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Sarah Galashan