Abstract
After a series of court appeals Elizabeth Bouvia won her right to die in 1986. Twenty-five years after the Bouvia case, issues of individual rights, acts of conscience for health care professionals, and the right to die continually inform health care practice and public policy. This article examines these three vital issues in the context of their relevance today, as well as the progression of health policy in regard to these topics since the Bouvia case. The complexity of the Bouvia case keeps it in the forefront of bioethics and health law studies; it begs one to consider how the Bouvia case will be viewed and discussed in another 25 years, as well as how it will continue to inform issues of individual rights, acts of conscience, and the right to die.
