Photo Credit: Choochart Choochaikupt
The following is a summary of “Patients Who Seek to Hasten Death by Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking: A Qualitative Study,” published in the November 2023 issue of Primary Care by Bolt, et al.
Some people think that voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED) is a bad way to speed up death. Not much is known about the people who come to VSED or why they do what they do. For a study, researchers examined why patients choose VSED, how they get ready for it, and how they get other people involved. They did a detailed study with 29 patients. Of those, 24 started VSED, and 19 died. There were 13 patients before or during VSED and 16 cases later. Researchers talked to 17 patients, 18 family members, and 10 professional carers. To talk about typologies, inductive ideal-type analysis was used.
There were three groups of patients. Twelve of the first patients were older people who thought their lives were over and valued being in charge. They did a lot of planning for VSED, but they forgot that family members might need help and that their choice could be hard on them emotionally. The second group, 11 patients, comprised older people who needed care and had a bad quality of life.
They started VSED suddenly sometimes, and they depended on (informal) carers to help them make and carry out their plan. The third group, which included six patients, was made up of people with a mental health condition who had a long-term but changing desire to die. Most of them were younger. They often got ready for VSED in secret or showed up to it unprepared. Patients starting to move towards VSED are very different and have a wide range of care needs. All three groups must be able to follow the care instructions during VSED.
Source: annfammed.org/content/21/6/534
