No Longer Plans to Starve, Bouvia Says

Saying she has not changed her mind about wanting to die, Elizabeth Bouvia, in a videotaped deposition, told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that it is no longer her intention to starve herself. “That was a lesson she learned” two years ago when the quadriplegic cerebral palsy victim unsuccessfully asked a Riverside court to permit her to starve, her lawyer said. At issue is whether Bouvia has an absolute right to refuse medical treatment. Lawyers for the county-operated High Desert Hospital in Lancaster said doctors initiated force-feeding through a nasogastric tube because they thought Bouvia’s liquid diet intake of 500 to 700 calories a day was not sufficient to sustain life. Attorney Richard Scott argued that his client has maintained constant weight for more than a year on the liquid diet and “was no more in danger of dying when the tube was inserted than I was.” Judge Warren Deering said his ruling on a preliminary injunction probably will be made next week.