Courts grant fast-tracked trial for Gloria Taylor
Posted August 3, 2011 10:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC Supreme Court has ordered a fast-tracked trial to a dying woman who wants to challenge Canada’s laws against assisted suicide.
Gloria Taylor has ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and wants a doctor-assisted suicide. Today, a judge decided Taylor’s case will be heard in November.
Her lawyer Joe Arvay calls it great news because he says Taylor is getting worse and if the case wasn’t sped up she might not be able to exercise her right to die before she passes away. As for whether November is soon enough, “Let’s hope so,” says Arvay.
“Gloria is an amazing woman,” he adds. “She has lived much longer than the doctors predicted that she would. She told me that she was going to hang on as long as it took in order for her to exercise her constitutional rights.”
The case will be a summary trial, meaning evidence will be through documents and affidavits rather than live witnesses, and will be heard by a judge alone. However, Arvay says some live witnesses may testify and Taylor may do so.
The Farewell Foundation, which is also fighting for people’s right to die, says it might try to join Taylor’s case.
