Is assisted suicide a ‘clear and present danger’ to people with disabilities? A new film asks tough questions

Reid Davenport, whose documentary Life After is at Sundance, thinks euthanasia has ‘a lot to do with cost savings’

In 1983, Elizabeth Bouvia, a 26-year-old woman in California with a non-terminal but debilitating illness, tried to starve herself to death in a hospital. “I’ve made a confident, rational decision,” she said.

Doctors began force-feeding her, which she resisted. The ensuing legal case turned her into a focus of intense public attention. A headline declared: “Elizabeth Bouvia is young, pretty, smart – and ready to die.”

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