Woman’s Life Ends After Right-to-Die Suit

Edna M. Folz, a crusading journalist whose right-to-die fight went to the U.S. Supreme Court, died Sunday, 18 days after doctors allowed the removal of her feeding tube.

Folz, 74, who had advanced Alzheimer’s disease, died in her sleep, said Linda Miller, owner of Sylvia’s Rest Haven in Marshfield, Wis., where Folz died.

Betty Spahn, Folz’s sister and legal guardian, waged a three-year court battle to have the feeding tube removed, arguing that Folz told her decades ago that she would rather die than live helplessly.

However, just days before the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take the case on Nov. 3, doctors reversed an earlier decision and determined Folz was in a vegetative state and withdrew the tube.