Elizabeth Bouvia
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Elizabeth Bouvia (born c. 1958) is a figure in the American
right-to-die The right to die is a concept based on the opinion that human beings are entitled to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of this right is often understood that a person with a terminal illness, incurable pain, or without ...
movement. Her case attracted nationwide attention in this area as well as in
medical ethics Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict. T ...
.


History

On September 3, 1983, Bouvia, at the age of 26, admitted herself into the
psychiatric ward Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...
of Riverside General Hospital in
Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
. She was almost totally paralysed by
cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...
and had severe degenerative
arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...
, which caused her great
pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, ...
. Bouvia was alienated from her family and husband, and had been entertaining thoughts of
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
. She requested hospital authorities to allow her to starve to death. When they refused and ordered her to be force-fed, Bouvia contacted the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
, which assigned her a lawyer. In the subsequent lawsuit, the court upheld the hospital's decision and ordered
force-feeding Force-feeding is the practice of feeding a human or animal against their will. The term ''gavage'' (, , ) refers to supplying a substance by means of a small plastic feeding tube passed through the nose ( nasogastric) or mouth (orogastric) into t ...
to continue (Pence 64-65).


Appeal

Following the court case, a bitter dispute broke out among
physicians A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
regarding the Bouvia case. Bouvia tried to resist the force-feeding by biting through the
feeding tube Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, her ...
. Four attendants would then hold her down while the tubing was inserted into her nose and liquids pumped into her stomach. Some physicians called this
battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
and
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
, while others claimed that the hospital was right to err on the side of continued life (Pence 65). Bouvia appealed the
lower court A lower court or inferior court is a court from which an appeal may be taken, usually referring to courts other than supreme court. In relation to an appeal from one court to another, the lower court is the court whose decision is being reviewed ...
ruling and lost. Now, in addition to the force-feeding, she was hooked up to a
morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a analgesic, pain medication, and is also commonly used recreational drug, recreationally, or to make ...
drip to ease the pain of her arthritis. In 1986, she appealed again and this time the court ruled in her favour that the force-feeding constituted battery.


Outcome

After the court case, Bouvia decided that she would live. However, her statements made it clear that it was because of the pain of starvation and that she actually wished she was dead. In 1992, Bouvia's lawyer Richard Scott tragically committed suicide. In an interview with the ''Los Angeles Times'' after his suicide, Bouvia stated that she had gone on morphine after the original court ruling in 1983. She stated that side effects of the morphine made starvation unbearable and expressed bitterness that the 1983 ruling had gone against her. She stated that she had been strong enough to starve herself to death in 1983 and said that she never would have gone on morphine if she had known she would eventually get a court ruling in her favor. In 1998, she appeared on ''60 Minutes'', saying that she was still in pain and had felt great pressure to continue living; she expressed the hope that she would soon die of
natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...
. She was still living in 200

In its obituary for USC professor Harlan Hahn, the ''Los Angeles Times'' on May 11, 2008, reported that Bouvia was still alive. Doctors in 1986 had predicted she could only live for another 15 to 20 years.


References

*Miller, Franklin and Diane Myer. "''Voluntary Death: A Comparison of Terminal Dehydration and Physician Assisted Suicide''" Thomas Mappes and Jane Zembaty Eds. Social Ethics (6th Ed). Boston: McGraw-Hill, McGraw Hill, 2002. 99-104. *
Gregory Pence Gregory E. Pence (born January 17, 1948) is an American philosopher. Biography He graduated cum laude with a B.A. from William and Mary and a Ph.D. from New York University, writing under visiting Australian bioethicist Peter Singer. Professor ...
. Chapter 2, "Elizabeth Bouvia," pp. 19–24, Classic Cases in Medical Ethics, (8th Ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2017). {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouvia, Elizabeth Euthanasia activists People from Riverside, California 1950s births Living people Activists from California Death in Riverside County, California 21st-century American women