Wanda Morris

   Wanda is a Vancouver area Chartered Accountant with a Master of Arts Degree in Transforming Spirituality. She has seen, first hand, through the deaths of friends and loved ones, the needless suffering caused by our failure to provide legal and accessible options for people with incurable or terminal illnesses to choose the time, place and circumstances of their death.
   Our current medical framework is unacceptable. There are no readily accessible methods for those with terminal or incurable illnesses who choose to end their lives. Taking high doses of aspirin or Tylenol will more likely result in chronic organ damage than death; doctors are legally precluded from prescribing narcotics in sufficient doses to ensure an easy passing. Any doctor assisting in a death is at risk of being prosecuted and jailed.
   Wanda believes that proper medical care must include the right to die for individuals with terminal or incurable illnesses. Where such individuals choose, they must have the right to die in a humane manner, at a time of their choosing, in the presence of friends and loved ones.
   When my sister's beloved dog, Sparky, was suffering and in constant pain, Linda gathered two of her closest friends and held Sparky in her arms as vet Karen put her gently to sleep. If one of my family members or loved ones was suffering a terminal or incurable illness and chose to die, I would like to honour their passing in the same way. I'd like to be there, holding them in my arms, as they gently leave this life.