Judge rules it is unconstitutional to stop someone choosing a dignified death but gives parliament a year to change law

A judge in Canada has ruled that its laws against assisted suicide are unconstitutional because they discriminate against severely ill patients.

Justice Lynn Smith of the British Columbia supreme court declared the laws invalid but suspended her ruling for one year to give Canada's federal parliament time to draft legislation with her ruling in mind.

The federal government is expected to appeal against the decision. The case will likely go to the Canadian supreme court.

Smith allowed the ailing Gloria Taylor, 64, to seek doctor-assisted suicide during the one-year period if she wants. Taylor was diagnosed in 2009 with Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, which progresses rapidly and is always fatal.

Smith said the provisions in Canada's constitution infringed on Taylor's rights to life, liberty and security of person, and discriminated against grievously ill or physically disabled patients who wanted to have some control over their circumstances at the end of their lives.

It has been illegal in Canada to counsel, aid or abet suicide and is punishable by up to 14 years' jail.

Grace Pastine of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association said: "The court has recognised that Canadians who are seriously and incurably ill have the right to request a physician to assist them in a dignified and human manner."

Pastine said Taylor's had stated she was deeply grateful knowing that she would have a choice at the end of her life and that it allowed her to approach her death with dignity.

Dr Will Johnson, chairman of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, called it a "radical" decision but noted parliament would have a say. "We're disappointed but not surprised at the radical nature of this decision today which essentially legalises assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada," Johnson said

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"We think this judgment decided to minimise and to disregard a lot of the evidence of harm in other jurisdictions where assisted suicide and euthanises has been practised."

It has been nearly 20 years since the tale of another patient suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, Sue Rodriguez, gripped Canadians as she fought in court for the right to assisted suicide. She lost her appeal but took her own life with the help of an anonymous doctor in 1994, at the age of 44.

In the latest case Taylor's lead lawyer, Joe Arvay, a civil liberties practitioner, argued to the court that assisted suicides were taking place despite the ban, a practice he likened to the illegal "back-alley abortions" of the past.

As she began her court fight in December 2011 Taylor was confined to a wheelchair in constant pain with hands that barely function. Taylor said she has challenges with everyday living and is unable to perform basic household tasks or wash herself.

Opponents argue that allowing assisted deaths could lead to abuses of the elderly and infirm. Johnston of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of Canada said people could be pushed to kill themselves when their lives became inconvenient for others. Only last year parliament voted 228-59 against changing the law to allow doctors to help people die "once the person has expressed his or her free and informed consent to die".

Those in favor of doctor-assisted suicide have the support of the Royal Society of Canada, the country's senior scholarly body. Its panel of professors and specialists in medical ethics and health law said in a report issued on 15 November that assisted death in Canada should be regulated and monitored rather than criminalised.

It pointed out that assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the US states of Oregon, Washington and Montana, while in England and Wales the policy is not to prosecute every case.