Letter: Rationing by age

Friday 12 November 1999 00:02 GMT

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Sir: At the age of 82, I should not be unhappy to be refused an expensive operation in favour of another younger patient with equal or better claims than my own, provided I could be assured that a doctor would be on hand to help me out of this world if and when I felt my situation had become unbearable. It is the condemnation to ongoing pain and, equally important, to indignity, that drives many elderly patients to assent to operations, rather than their wish to prolong life.

JOY ROSS

Purley, Surrey

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Letter: Rationing by age

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