A death on her terms

Re "A Patient's Final Decision" (Aug. 23): Dr. Marc Siegel's article about a patient who returned to the Netherlands for her final days revealed his ambivalence about permitting a patient to be in control when disease brings the end of life near. As he indicated, the patient was not ambivalent about her choice to have dying occur on her terms. Fortunately, she was able to return to her native land, where the professionals are not so determined to be in charge right to the end. Clearly, this was a rational woman, accepting the fact that death was not a remote possibility. It was not going to be a difference between living and dying. It was simply a difference in the time and location of that process.