Citation

Menzel PT. J. Law Med. Ethics 2017; 45(4): 634-646.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1177/1073110517750602

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Refusal of lifesaving treatment, and such refusal by advance directive, are widely recognized as ethically and legally permissible. Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) is not. Ethically and legally, how does VSED compare with these two more established ways for patients to control the end of life? Is it more questionable because with VSED the patient intends to cause her death, or because those who assist it with palliative care could be assisting a suicide?
In fact the ethical and legal basis for VSED is virtually as strong as for refusing lifesaving treatment and less problematic than the basis for refusing treatment by advance directive. VSED should take its proper place among the accepted, permissible ways by which people can control the time and manner of death.

Language: en