Wesley J. Smith: Will We Starve Dementia Patients in Slow Motion?

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Wesley J. Smith: Will We Starve Dementia Patients in Slow Motion?

(NRO) – Moves are afoot in bioethics to require caregivers to withhold food and water by mouth from a patient made incompetent by dementia if that patient, while compos mentis, has signed such a request — and even if the patient willingly eats, enjoys meals, or asks for food. It is sometimes called “voluntary stop eating and drinking [VSED] by advance directive,” in the parlance. I have frequently criticized VSED by directive as inhumane to the …