Assisted Suicides

Dr. Thomas Quill has assisted Diane in ending her life (front page, March 8). As I look at the evolving history of “assisted” suicide, I note that the person assisting tends to be male and the person receiving assistance is female. In your article, the four cases cited include the article subjects; the anonymous physician, who, given the composition of the AMA, must be male and Debbie; Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Janet Adkins, and Derek Humphry and Jean Humphry. I notice, too, that when an Alzheimer’s patient is “assisted” to the end by a caretaker, the roles have the same gender breakdown.

If men are selecting rational suicide in similar numbers, I’d like to hear about them. If not, I’d like to know why women get to be at the vanguard of a new movement in their old position: passive and supine. Haven’t we had enough of that?

SUSAN PETRONELLA

Gardena