Bouvia Elizabeth

Bouvia Elizabeth

A woman (born 1958) who became an early figure in the US right-to-die movement. In 1983, paralysed by cerebral palsy and wracked with pain from severe degenerative arthritis, she admitted herself to hospital in California, asking for their help for her to starve to death. Instead they began to force feed her, which she violently resisted. She sued the hospital, but the appellate court upheld the hospital’s decision. She re-appealed and court ruled that force-feeding constituted battery.