
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 21, 1993                   TAG: 9305210033
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TORONTO                                LENGTH: Short

ASSISTED SUICIDE ARGUED

A woman suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease made a final plea for the right to die with dignity, asking the Canadian Supreme Court on Thursday to allow her a doctor-assisted suicide.

The case of Sue Rodriguez echoed a similar constitutional challenge in the United States involving Dr. Jack Kevorkian and was argued before a national TV audience.

"This case is not about euthanasia, which is illegal," attorney Christopher Considine told the nine justices of Canada's highest court. "It is about a terminally ill patient who is physically incapable of committing suicide without the aid of a physician."

In euthanasia, commonly called mercy killing, a person is killed painlessly by another person to end suffering.

Rodriguez, 42, is a married woman from Victoria, B.C., who has an 8-year-old son. The former administrative assistant was diagnosed in August 1991 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The malady leads to degeneration and eventual death of the cells of the spinal cord and brain stem that control the muscles. It eventually shuts down body functions, usually causing death from suffocation or choking.

by CNB