B.C. woman with degenerative disease challenges assisted dying law

Ottawa's assisted dying law has only been on the books for a week and a half. But it's already being challenged in court. 

On Monday, Julia Lamb — a 25-year-old B.C. woman with spinal muscular atrophy — along with the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, launched a lawsuit challenging the country's new assisted dying legislation.

B.C. woman with degenerative disease challenges assisted dying bill

8 years ago

Duration 4:43

Julia Lamb explains why she believes the right to die should be extended to people with non-terminal illnessesThe law restricts medical assistance in dying to Canadians who are facing a "reasonably foreseeable" death. It does not include individuals who are suffering with "no immediate end in sight."

• RELATED: Liberals' assisted-dying bill is now law after clearing final hurdles
• RELATED: Liberals reject Senate bid to expand eligibility for medically assisted death

Lamb spoke with As it Happens host Carol Off about how the law could affect her. Here's an excerpt of their conversation:

CAROL OFF: Ms. Lamb, what made you decide to take on this role of challenging this high-profile piece of legislation?

JULIA LAMB: I was watching the bill go through the Senate. After it became passed, with the amendments, I became very frustrated. I reached out to the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and really decided to take this on — for me and for all the other Canadians that believe this is unconstitutional for the non-terminally ill patients who would like to seek medical aid in dying.  

CO: How did you feel when you saw the results — that medically assisted death would be available only to those who had a reasonably foreseeable death? What did that mean to you?

JL: When I found that out, I felt very upset and very distressed. Because, come a time when my suffering becomes intolerable, it doesn't mean that my death will be reasonably foreseeable.

I want the best for my future and I'm pretty ambitious. But I also have to face the reality.- Julia Lamb

CO: What do you know about the future [of your condition]?  

JL: I know that, obviously, this is a progressive disease. I want the best for my future and I'm pretty ambitious. But I also have to face the reality, that at any moment . . . [I could] get a cold. It could turn into pneumonia and I could require a ventilator to breathe. I could lose the ability to speak and I could be left in a state of intolerable suffering. That could be my future. That, obviously, causes me much distress. And, that's what caused me to come out and speak today.