Patient’s Choice to Die

In response to your editorial (April 21) regarding Elizabeth Bouvia, I feel that the court should have ruled completely in her favor, thus allowing her to terminate her life or to continue living as a quadriplegic, suffering from cerebral palsy, no longer supported by life-supporting machinery.

As a nation we seem to be preoccupied with our physical well-being, ignoring the spiritual aspect of our lives. Death is as natural a process as birth, and it is the quality of life that counts, not the longevity. Anyone fully in control of her rational thinking, should have the right to choose between death and a life of suffering.

Elizabeth Bouvia, clearly an intelligent person, has consciously made a decision to end her life. Society has no right to take advantage of her handicap and subject her to undue physical and emotional suffering.

We ought to respect her wish.

ANDREA SCHARFF

Los Angeles