I've witnessed the good, the bad, and the ugly death all too many times, both as a nurse and family member (Viewpoint, August). End-of-life support doesn't mean the same thing as life support, in the popular sense of that term. Judith Schwarz's statement about nurses' conflict-"they want to help their patients die well, yet they don't want responsibility for helping them to die"-is well put. Let's set about changing this!!

Washington, DC