A B.C. woman slowly dying from Lou Gehrig's disease made an emotional plea Wednesday for the right to die when she chooses and with the help of a doctor.
Gloria Taylor, 63, is a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Canada's law against physician assisted suicide. She was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis two years ago, and since then has watched her health and independence slip away.
"I am slowly dying, piece by piece, day by day," she told reporters.
"I must make this very clear: I do not want to die. I don't want to die anymore than any one of you. I want to live every day that I can to the fullest, one day at a time. What I do not want is to die an agonizing, slow, difficult, unpleasant, undignified death."
Arguments in the BC Civil Liberties Association lawsuit will begin in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday.
While Taylor will not testify, she has submitted an affidavit outlining a vibrant, daring life that has been destroyed by ALS. She describes her love of motorcycles and history as a healthcare advocate, as well as her hope that her young granddaughter won't be forced to watch her spend her last days in a coma, sedated and unable to say goodbye.
Taylor told reporters that her disease "is reducing my body to bones over skin, keeps me in severe pain at all times, and has caused me and my family indescribable pain and grief."
She said she now relies on twice-daily visits from two homecare workers to help her shower, prepare food, dress and undress, and brush her teeth. She can barely sign her own name and has had several severe falls in recent months.
"I fear losing my ability to get out of bed and my ability to speak," she said.
"I fear that I will eventually suffocate and die, struggling for air, like a fish out of water."
Taylor said she refuses to commit suicide without help from a medical professional, fearing a violent end that would traumatize her family.
The BCCLA lawsuit seeks to give people like Taylor, who suffer from serious and incurable diseases, the right to seek a doctor's help to choose when they die.
Assisted suicide is currently legal in a handful of European countries, as well as the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington.
Canadian opponents argue that legalizing assisted suicide might encourage elder abuse, with money-hungry beneficiaries encouraging their friends and relatives to end their lives in order to collect on the will.
But lawyer Sheila Tucker says the experience in other countries has proven those fears wrong.
"The regulation of choice in dying rather than the criminalization actually provides the best protection for individuals at the end of life," she said Wednesday.
Tucker added that safeguards would be necessary to make sure those seeking physician-assisted suicide are mentally competent and fully aware of the consequences of their decision. Those safeguards might include extensive counselling and therapy for patients.
In Switzerland, each assisted suicide is investigated by coroners, police and prosecutors to ensure that it was voluntary.
Court proceedings for the BCCLA lawsuit were fast-tracked to make sure Taylor would be alive to see it through. Arguments are expected to continue until Dec. 16.
