Prof. Thaddeus Mason Pope explains the newly-effective Nevada advance directive that allows dementia patients to voluntarily stop eating and drinking (VSED) after loss of cognitive capacity, and suggests how it may be used in some other states.
In my last post, I discussed some general propositions about Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED). In this post, I look at some VSED issues in greater detail.
I learned that VSED doesn’t have to be a horrible way to hasten one’s death. With proper care, it can be done without pain or distress. The first two or three days are sometimes the most difficult because of hunger pangs and thirst. The hunger is easy to control if one has access to pain medication. The thirst can be ameliorated with proper oral care, such as judicious use of ice chips, rinses, and lubricating gels.
