Assisted Suicide Advocate Honours 'Trailblazer' For High Court Victory

VANCOUVER — An advocate for doctor-assisted suicide is celebrating the Supreme Court of Canada decision on doctor-assisted suicide by remembering the British Columbia woman whose cause he championed more than 20 years ago, when she took her dying breath.

 

Terminally ill Victoria-area resident Sue Rodriguez chose Feb. 12, 1994 to end her life with the help of an anonymous physician.

 

Then-federal New Democrat Svend Robinson joined her fight for assisted suicide and was with Rodriguez when she died.

 

Robinson says today's high court decision granting all severely suffering Canadians the legal right to make the same decision is a chance to honour Rodriguez for her trailblazing efforts.

 

Rodriguez began her legal battles for assisted suicide in 1991, saying she wanted to make her own decision about her body, which was slowly shutting down because she had ALS.

 

Robinson, who introduced a private members' bill on physician-assisted suicide in December 1992 and now lives in Geneva, says the court decision makes him proud to be Canadian.