ABSTRACT
This chapter discuses the case of Sue Rodriguez. SUE RODRIGUEZ was a forty-two-year-old woman living in British Columbia, Canada. She suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Sue Rodriquez did not rest her case on liberty alone; she also argued that the ban against physician-assisted suicide violated her right to equality by discriminating against her on the basis of her disabilities. Her argument which was developed in a long and carefully written dissent by Chief Justice Lamer came to this: Persons with disabilities who are or will become unable to end their lives without assistance are discriminated against by the prohibition of assisted suicide since, unlike persons capable of causing their own deaths, they are deprived of the option of choosing suicide. Rodriguez was joined in this argument by the country's largest disability advocacy group, and then known as the Coalition of Provincial Organizations of the Handicap (COPOH).
