'Duty to Live' Bigger Problem than 'Duty to Die'

Steve Lopez has a piece in yesterday's LA Times collecting some readers' letters.  One states:  "My mother is 103 and has severe dementia. Quality of life is zero. She is DNR , yet still the Medicare money pours out. Emergency room visits. Home healthcare, hospice, expensive drugs. "  

Lopez says that one common theme among the letters is  that "there's no shortage of elders in California who wish we had something like Oregon's Death With Dignity Act."  Gene Dorio, a geriatric physician says "it's time for Baby Boomers in our rapidly aging society to talk about policy reforms around death and dying."