Madam, - I was struck by Angela Macnamara's comforting, very positive phrase, "quite often older people see death as a friend" (June 21st), in the context of elderly people in extremis. And I wholly concur with her opinion that unduly artificial means of preserving life, courtesy of modern medical science, should not be visited on patients who wish otherwise. (I am speaking for the way I would want it.)
PEG tube feeding (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy), for example, is a procedure that can be viewed as violating the wishes and dignity of those who yearn for a natural passage from life and pain. - Yours, etc,
OLIVER McGRANE, Marley Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Madam, - Angela Macnamara (June 20th) refers to a "significant number" of people over 75 seeing death as a friend! Some things may diminish with age, but most certainly not the sweetness of life. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN JUDD, Active Retirement Ireland, Eustace Street, Dublin 2.