Canadian doctor who kept thalidomide out of U.S. dies Frances Kelsey, the Canadian doctor who spared the United States from one of the worst drug disasters in history, died on Friday morning. She was 101. As Ingrid Peritz reports, Dr. Kelsey is regarded as a heroine for her role in the early 1960s opposing thalidomide, a drug then generally promoted as a safe sedative for pregnant women, but which caused an epidemic of birth defects around the world, including Canada. Dr. Kelsey died less than 24 hours after receiving the Order of Canada for her role in stopping thalidomide.