To the editor:

The New York state legislature should pass the Medical Aid in Dying bill to give residents here the right to make their own end-of-life decisions.

Recently, I spent time in the state of Washington, where such a right exists. The matriarch of a family I met, in her 80s and healthy all her life, was hospitalized while I was there for a lingering, painful illness. She was diagnosed with a stage-four cancer and given a prognosis of less than six months to live. With her family she made the decision to end her life, rather than spend her final days suffering with pain. She was moved from the hospital to a house which had been donated for the express purpose of allowing for a peaceful death in a homelike setting. She passed away surrounded by her family, leaving her loved ones with a sense of peace.

This is a choice which should be available to all of us.

Claire Gilmore

Tupper Lake