Re: “Choosing to leave life,” by Dr. Jerald Winakur (Aug. 24):

Like Dr. Winakur, I was asked by a friend in her 70s to enable her to take her own life. Betty could no longer move her arms and legs and, even with a table full of medications, was also in unimaginable pain.

She was still a brilliant woman and had, until the onset of this debilitating condition, also been the most glass-half-full person I have ever known.

She wanted to live; she loved life, but not like this. She couldn’t even push the “call” button from her bed in the nursing home, and almost everything that touched her body caused great pain (even pillows).

Betty asked if I would get in touch with a nonprofit Swiss organization called Dignitas that would enable her to legally end her life on her own terms. It took three months of paperwork, phone calls to Switzerland, precise medical documentation and a private medical jet to get her where she wanted to be.

Then, by Swiss law, she was required to spend three days there and to be interviewed by a physician before she could complete her life. There were many safeguards in place to ensure that Betty was clear-thinking and repeated assurances that she was welcome to change her mind at any time.

The Dignitas doctor asked us, “Please get laws passed in the United States so that people don’t have to come to Switzerland for this. People shouldn’t have to leave home, and we are, after all, a small country.” I hope Dr. Winakur’s column in your newspaper will help move this issue forward – quickly.

Betty died in a peaceful and positive setting on Aug. 25, 2010.

Shelley Dunn

Portland