Tag: Voluntarily Stopping Eating & Drinking

• Rosemary Bowen’s Story

• Voluntarily Stopping Eating & Drinking (VSED): An Overview

• VSED: Exploring an End of Life Option for Suffering Patients

• Why do I have to discuss my intention to VSED with anyone? Isn’t it my body and my choice?

  Many people believe they can achieve a hastened death by VSED without anyone’s assistance or support. While it is true that people have died this...

• What is voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED)?

  VSED is a decision made by an adult with decision-making capacity to stop further intake of food and fluids with the goal of hastening their...

• What are the best ways to approach institutional partners re VSED (e.g., aged care, nursing and care homes)?

  That is a very challenging issue. However, so long as the patient is decisionally-capable, they have an absolute legal right to refuse ANY intervention, including...

• How do professional caregivers (for example hospice staff) get training for attending to VSED folks?

  There is certainly a lot of very useful, practical clinical information in our book about VSED and there is also information online (though one must...

• Can you speak to the benefit of the Death Doula role in VSED?

  I have recently begun to collaborate with doulas in the care of their clients. They often call with specific questions about VSED, and pros/cons of...

• Are wishes regarding stopping eating & drinking commonly documented in advance directives?

  NO. This is a fairly new type of directive. – Judy