Business Letters

Re: David Lazarus’ consumer column “Fighting cancer, and his insurer,� Feb. 23:

The photo of Michael Iritano, 7, embracing his father, a liver cancer patient, was especially poignant as my father was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1958 when I was 8. My father’s only option was to be hospitalized and receive pain relief. He lived just two months after the initial diagnosis.

Cancer treatment has improved in the years since. However, as David Lazarus’ column documents, beneficial therapies can be and are denied to patients.

Jean Howard

Huntington Beach

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“What price do you put on a life?� is a complicated question, but I do not think it applies to this situation. The fitting question seems to be, “How far do you go to extend a life?�

As a father, I’d want my life to be extended as long as possible and at all costs. And I’d like the same for my loved ones. It’s the natural reaction. But it’s also just an emotional reaction.

We, as a society, need to weigh the costs against the benefits and to determine whether there’s a better way to use limited resources.

Peter Kakkavas

Woodland Hills

Save rain forest to save ourselves

Re: “Money Trees,� Feb. 21:

We finally have a way of cheaply reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and I think we should jump all over this opportunity. Businesses may not be thrilled about cap-and-trade legislation, but they need to understand that if this planet goes, we go with it.

Cody Broxton

Ladera Ranch

Reality check for the wealthy

Re: “Luxury meets reality as asking prices tumble,� Feb. 20:

Excellent piece on the real estate landscape being littered with high-profile price drops. Do celebrities really “have to have� a Jacobean manor on 40 rolling acres with 21,000-plus square feet, 14 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms and indoor pool? It’s time the wealthy face a new reality.

Mike Nally

Garden Grove

Planes should fit fat people

Re: Money & Company blog post “Video: Do we need fat sections on airlines?� Feb. 19:

Airlines must do a better job accommodating fat passengers. And yes, I’ve experienced the exasperation of losing a third of my seat to an obese person.

Fat people are people too, and they have every right to fly, same as anyone else. I’m just not sure a “fat section� on planes is the answer. It would be humiliating. Perhaps a better solution is to have seats of varying sizes all through the plane. How about a small, medium and large in each row? Not only fat people appreciate larger seats.

Abe Rosenberg

Marina del Rey

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