AIDS PATIENT FIGHTS FOR RIGHT TO DIE

Takes Plea For Doctor-Assisted Suicide To Court

Jim Wakeford sees his own death from AIDS as a serene moment - with
his brother, his doctor and a few close friends by his side.

In order to fulfil his dying wish, he is launching a constitutional
court challenge to earn the right to a doctor-assisted suicide.

Wakeford is no stranger to controversy. Last spring, federal Health
Minister Allan Rock granted him an exemption from criminal prosecution
for his use of marijuana to combat the side effects of his AIDS medicine.

``I've been racing the AIDS virus for over 10 years,'' Wakeford said
at a news conference yesterday at Toronto's AIDS memorial in Cawthra
Park on Church St.

``I want to die with dignity. This is my choice,'' he said. ``I have
turned to the courts because no doctor can help me.''

While Wakeford's death is not imminent, he said he has been ``on the
brink'' twice before and wishes to get all his affairs in order now,
when he is in full control of his mental and physical capacities.

The right to die should be a choice available to all terminally ill
patients, he said.

``I believe I should have this right. I'd like my suicide to occur
privately with the presence of my loved ones.''

David Corbett, Wakeford's lawyer, said the right to physician-assisted
suicide is an enormously complex social issue.

But it is one many of us will eventually face, with the possibility of
disease affecting ourselves and our families.

``The government has failed in their duty to accommodate the rights of
those who are terminally ill,'' Corbett said.

He said there is a substantial difference between Wakeford's case and
that of Sue Rodriguez, the Victoria, B.C., woman with amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, who fought the courts for
the legal right to die.

Rodriguez needed someone to physically assist her in suicide because
her disease left her incapacitated. ``The law views it as murder,''
Corbett said.

``Jim wants to do it (commit suicide) himself,'' he
said.

Rodriguez committed suicide in 1994 with the help of an unnamed
physician after the Supreme Court of Canada narrowly upheld a ban
against assisted suicide.

Wakeford, who is filing his challenge to the Superior Court of
Justice, said he has seen ``too many suicides that are messed up'' and
he would feel more comfortable if he could leave life when he chooses,
with dignity, in his home and with medical assistance.

``This is part of putting my affairs in order. If I don't do something
now, it'll be too late and I'll be at the mercy of the system,'' he
said.

Assisted suicide is being carried out all over the country, said
Cynthia St. John, executive director of Dying With Dignity, whose
group has counselled about 3,000 people seeking assistance to die in
the last 20 years.

``This is happening every single day in this country and it's
happening quietly and unregulated,'' she said.