Dementia Advance Directive

About the Advance Directive to Stop Assisted Feeding and Drinking

This Advance Directive permits those who currently have decision-making capacity to document their future choices about stopping assisted feeding and drinking or – if that isn’t possible – to reduce eating and drinking to a minimum (known as Minimal Comfort Feeding) when they lose capacity and can no longer feed themselves. This directive is especially useful to those in the earliest stages of dementia or who have a family history of the disease and want to avoid a long dying process. However, it also applies to other conditions such as strokes or brain injuries.

Recommendation

EOLCNY recommends that this new advance directive be completed after a health care agent has been appointed who agrees to implement the chosen feeding option. This ‘dementia’ directive should be used to augment other advance directives in addition to the health care proxy, such as a Do Not Resuscitate order or, if appropriate, a MOLST form (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment).

EOLCNY strongly advises open discussion of these important decisions with a person’s primary care physician, other medical care providers, their family attorney, loved ones, and all caregivers.