JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. -- A Jacksonville Beach man who said he wants the government to allow him to die with the help of his doctor has filed a lawsuit asking the federal courts to invalidate a state law that prohibits doctor-assisted suicide.

In his lawsuit, retired attorney James Mahorner Sr., argues that animals are permitted a more humane death than people under the current law.

"It's incidents where the blood flow is reduced," Mahorner said.

Mahorner, 76, told Channel 4 he's dying and described a condition he said causes mini-strokes. He said within a few years he would be mentally incompetent.

"They cannot give me drugs that would kill me -- that's forbidden. That would be assisted suicide. They can give me sedation. They have to starve me to death or kill me by thirst," Mahorner said, arguing that the current state law would cause him to have a painful and an undignified death. "If my dog was dying of cancer and I starve him to death, I go to prison for five years for aggravated animal abuse. So, I'm required to take him to the doctor who immediately gives him what I'm asking for here."

Mahorner said he wants the state to allow his doctor to help him die in a fashion similar to how death row inmates are given a cocktail of drugs that eventually stops the heart, and calls the law that prohibits doctor-assisted suicide wrong.

"It's a right of control over your body -- a personal right that the federal government shouldn't take over. That's the way I feel about it," Mahorner said.

He said money is one of the reasons he thinks the government prohibits doctor-assisted suicides. In his lawsuit, Mahorner states his medical bills as a patient of the hospital provide, "extensive taxes for federal and other governments."

He said he has started the process now before he's unable to make coherent decisions.