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Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking is a method increasingly used in the USA and other countries for those choosing a final exit. I just finished a very interesting SHORT handbook written by an author who saw her family through her mom's early dementia choice for deliverance by VSED. It discusses choices, and especially legalities of said method and is a fascinating look at one family's journey.


Available on Amazon; cannot remember exact price but close to 15.00.


Book is called The VSED Handbook and is written by Kate Christie.


I recommend it if you have any interest in the subject.

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AlvaDeer- yes I am. I read your response to onionrey posted yesterday so I googled VSED as this was the first time seeing anything about this. Google provided a good amount of info but I will take a look at this handbook. Thank you.
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I am interested and know of someone who has done it. My friend’s sister, who had lived with mental illness her whole adult life, decided to end it by refusing to eat and drink. She had been living in a care facility for many years.

It took about a week.
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Thank you for raising that here. I have a long-term friend who is part of the lobby group that took about 20 years to get the ‘right to die’ through our local parliament, and I have sent her the links. Our ‘right to die’ is still restricted to diagnoses of death within a particular time (usually 6 months), and this sounds like a very interesting alternative. I know that one case locally was around the right to refuse intravenous feeding, but I still think this option has legs.

Thanks again, Margaret
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I saw this play out in my mom's nursing home when the man at the next table started to refuse his meals, but because I wasn't privy to his health status can't know whether this was a conscious choice to end his life. At the time I thought it was rather cruel to keep bringing him to the dining room and offering him food, but in hindsight I recognize the facility had to cover their a$$es and clearly demonstrate that the death wasn't due to negligence.
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I'm somewhat familiar with VSED but will take a look at this handbook. I recently purchased "Medical Aid in Dying" by Lonny Shavelson, M.D. I'm so glad MAiD is legal in my state, but the stringent barriers to its use are a major problem for many. Patients must be medically determined to have a terminal illness with 6 months or less to live. So far anyway, I do not meet these guidelines. (Pain, general disability and "age-related decline" don't qualify.)
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Elizabeth:
You don't need a medical diagnosis to do VSED because you are merely choosing not to eat and drink. That is your right as a citizen to do at any time you choose. The Supreme Court long ruled that a person cannot be forced to eat or drink or take IV fluids, etc. Many people write into their advance directives and medical POA instructions that they will not accept IV or PEG/NG feedings and will not agree to be spoon fed when they can no longer take nourishment on their own.

People often use VSED when there IS no 6 months diagnosis, but they are ready to go. They are legally able to do this even until completely incompetent to make their wishes known.
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Thank you, AlvaDeer!
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I mistakenly posted the below in the thread about the memoir, Mother Lode.
The below is in the VSED handbook, not in the memoir, Mother Lode:

"PS There is also an EXCELLENT short section in this VSED handbook about what legal competency is. How seniors, even those in earlier stages of dementia are LEGALLY able to make legal decisions for themselves. I found it very relevant reading for our Forum."
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AlvaDeer: Thank you for the clear explanation. I understand that VSED is as you've described and is anyone's right at any time. However, I think there would be a need for "comfort care" and support when/if the time comes. Otherwise, it seems to me that demise via VSED would be very uncomfortable physically, but I may be missing something. I don't have a medical background. My ultimate objective would be to accomplish a comfortable and peaceful Final Exit if at all possible. "How-to" is the part I haven't figured out yet--except for the possibility of a trip to Switzerland using my last remaining $$$. But one can't be too ill or disabled to make the trip. . .

I will follow up on the VSED Handbook. I have done some preliminary reading on the subject, which indicates that it's not a DIY project.
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@Elizabeth:
That's the glory of this book.
It lists the stages. The symptoms. The relief you must have at the ready. And how to DO all of that.

This is by no means easy, but for many this is the only final exit of THEIR CHOICE that is an option. And they must have family in agreement. And they need all the medical and legal help they can get and this tells how to get that.

So just saying, there is no easy way to get out of here. This is an option. And reading a book with footnotes on contacts, telling how it was done by family? For me, this is a godsend. I have talked about this with my daughter. About the "option". And I so appreciate this added information.
For many, this may be too tough. For an old RN and her daughter? We could DO this if the time came. And we have spoken of it. And this is just but more information.
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AlvaDeer: Again, thanks so much for this. I will definitely obtain the handbook. I hope to find some of the useful information I'm currently lacking. Although Switzerland is a possibility, it's VERY pricey and may not be practical financially or physically depending on circumstances at the time. I need another "option"!
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