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VSED Resources Northwest Reading List
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Books about VSED
- The VSED Handbook: A Practical Guide to Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking by Kate Christie, available in eBook or paperback from Amazon or from Village Books in Bellingham. With a foreword written by VRNW’s co-founder Nancy Simmers, this book offers a concise, compassionate guide to planning for and carrying out VSED. [Note: Each copy purchased by clicking to Amazon from our website earns VSED Resources Northwest a small commission that helps support our projects and goals.]
- Choosing to Die by Phyllis Shacter, available on Amazon or from Village Books in Bellingham.
- Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking: A Compassionate, Widely Available Option for Hastening Death, edited by Timothy E. Quill, Paul T. Menzel, Thaddeus M. Pope, and Judith K. Schwarz. Oxford University Press, 2021. Available on Amazon.
- The Last Ten Days–Academia, Dementia, and the Choice to Die by Martha Risberg Brosio, available on Amazon.
Articles/podcasts/lectures about VSED
- “Overview of Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking to Hasten Death,” by Jane Lowers, Sean Hughes, and Nancy J. Preston of Lancaster University, in the Annals of Palliative Medicine, March 2021.
- “Aid-In-Dying Loophole: Advocates Want You To Know You Can Stop Eating And Drinking,” an article by Nell Lake from NPR member station WBUR
- “Let Me Tell You About My Mother,” an essay by author Kate Christie
- “Tim Quill on Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking,” podcast on GeriPal, a geriatrics and palliative care blog
- “Suffering and Choice at the End of Life with Judith Schwarz” from The Art of Dying Conference Lectures & Panel Series
- “Hospice Care for Patients Who Choose to Hasten Death by Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking” by Judith Schwarz, PhD, MS, RN in Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing.
- “Nutrition and Hydration at the End of Life,” position statement from the American Nurses Association
- “Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking in the Terminally Ill,” fact sheet #379 from Palliative Care Network of Wisconsin
- “VSED at the end of life–a ‘systematic search and review’ giving insight into an option of hastening death in capacitated adults at the end of life” in BMC Palliative Care
- “Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) to hasten death: may clinicians legally support patients to VSED?” by Thaddeus Mason Pope in BMC Medicine
Websites with VSED content
- Compassion and Choices: https://compassionandchoices.org/end-of-life-planning/learn/vsed/
- EOL Choices Oregon: https://eolcoregon.org/end-of-life-choices/voluntarily-stopping-eating-and-drinking-vsed/
- EOL Choices New York – VSED: https://endoflifechoicesny.org/education/resources/vsed/
- Medical Futility Blog, Professor Thaddeus Pope: https://medicalfutility.blogspot.com/
- Phyllis Shacter, Choosing to Die: https://www.phyllisshacter.com
Videos about VSED
- VSED, An Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2fU9ouCTf8&t
- Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baaB9aDVVxg
- Rosemary Bowen’s Fast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpEwH6AKeVA
- Family Support Perspectives: VSED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4X0QjVV9ac
- My Right: The Handmade Death of Herta Sturman: https://vimeo.com/359407878
- Dying Wish: https://www.dyingwishmedia.com
Organizations that offer information about VSED
- End of Life Washington: A patient advocacy group that supports and advocates for those facing the end of life; assists with all aspects of end-of-life decision making; and promotes the use of advance directives and communication about end-of-life wishes.
- End of Life Choices Oregon: a non-profit organization comprised of medical directors and regional volunteers trained in the specialized field of helping Oregonians through their end of life options.
End of Life Choices New York: An organization in NY that works to improve end of life care, and expand end of life options, to ensure a peaceful death.
Compassion and Choices: A nonprofit organization in the US that works to improve patient rights and individual choice at the end of life. Its primary function is advocating for and ensuring access to EOL options.
End of Life Collective: A community of care givers and care seekers gathered in one place to help you and your family through one of life’s most important times.
