Liz Walker’s Oct. 19 op-ed, “Question 2 is deeply flawed,” raised numerous unfair accusations about the Death with Dignity Act. The act has numerous safeguards in place, and is about control of suffering, not about life or death.

Similar laws have been enacted in Oregon and Washington with an approval rating of more than 70 percent. Physicians in these states are not taking a more active role in the dying process. All physician participation is voluntary. In the laws of those two states, as in the Massachusetts act, it is the dying person who receives the prescription for drugs to hasten death.