Rodriguez v British Columbia (AG), [1993] 3 SCR 519 is a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision where the prohibition of assisted suicide was challenged as contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ("Charter") by a terminally ill woman, Sue Rodriguez.
Sue Rodriguez was a 42-year-old mother whose illness amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or "Lou Gehrig's disease") was diagnosed in 1992.
She applied to the Supreme Court of British Columbia to have section 241(b) of Criminal Code struck down because it allegedly violated sections 7 (the right to "life, liberty, and security of the person), 12 (protection against "cruel and unusual treatment or punishment[2]") and 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (equality).
He found the prohibition had sufficient connection with the justice system by its impact on an individual's autonomy and right to life by causing physical and psychological pain.
The Supreme Court's ruling in Rodriguez was overturned 22 years later in the 2015 decision in Carter v Canada (AG),[4] which found that denying assisted suicide in some cases violated Section 7 of the Charter.