Many of the legal and ethical options for refusing unwanted interventions are not available to people with dementia because they lack decision-making capacity. But one way for these people to ensure that they do not live for years with severe dementia is to use an advance directive to instruct caregivers to stop giving them food and water by mouth. This is an ethical and legal gray area explored in commentaries and a case study in the Hastings Center Report. How many seniors choose VSED? (VSED (Voluntarily Stopping Eating & Drinking | Patients Rights.) And what happens some time later, when and if the senior citizen forgets he or she gave orders of voluntary stopping food and water...
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