Winnipeg woman's obituary urges lawmakers for right to die

The obituary of a Winnipeg woman isn't askingfor flowers or donations, it's askingfor letters to lawmakerstelling themto actsoon on the right-to-die legislation.

Jess Bowness, 89. died last Thursday after choosing to stop taking her medications, including insulin, to end her life.

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She had diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, quadruple bypass surgery, neuropathy, memory loss and was recently diagnosed with stage four breast cancer.

"She was increasingly depressed and unhappy and isolated and in pain and had said many times over the past couple of years that her life wasn't worth living," said her son, Gordon Bowness.

After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Jess made the decision to go off medication and then informed her family, Gordon said.

Doctors told her it could take two months to two years for her to die, he said. She died after 26 days of being off her medication.

"It really was hard to watch her get smaller and diminish over those 26 days. I don`t think that was necessary," Gordon said.

The worst part for the family was not knowing how much her health would deteriorate and when she would die, he said.

"If the legislation had been in place we would have figured out how to help her make the choice that she needed to make and when she needed to make it."

In January, the Supreme Court of Canada granted the federal government a four-month extension, to June 6, to pass assisted-dying legislation.

The court also ruled that Canadians wishing to exercise their right to die with the help of a doctor can apply to a superior court in their home province if a person is a competent adult, consents to the termination of life and has a medical condition that causes suffering and isn't curable.

"It just didn't occur to us to bring in a lawyer, to bring in the courts at that situation. It would have felt too invasive, too inappropriate in some way," said Gordon. "Making it easy, accessible, make it respectful, giving people the agency and dignity to make that choice I think is incredibly important."

He said his mom always voiced her opinions strongly so that's the approach he and his family took when writing her obituary.

"It`s too late for my mom but it's not too late for countless others and the clock is ticking and a lot of people are in distress and worried about how the political process will unfold as we approach June 6," he said.

"Enough is enough. There are people suffering."