Judith Schwarz, PhD, is the Clinical Director of End of Life Choices New York and a nationally recognized expert on VSED. In her recent post on Medium, “What is a ‘dementia directive’ to stop eating and drinking?” Schwarz explains the use of an advanced directive to prevent handfeeding in later stages of dementia. The article …
Reblog: Dementia Directive information from EoL Choices NY Read More »
Recently, retired newspaper photographer Peter Haley penned an editorial in the Seattle Times: “State’s ‘Death with Dignity’ law failed my wife.” In his piece, Haley wrote that Toni, his “beloved wife of 27 years,” was forced to die alone because Washington state’s medical aid-in-dying (MAID) law doesn’t cover ALS. Toni chose to die on her …
VRNW Member Responds to Seattle Times Article about WA’s Death with Dignity/MAID Law Read More »
Novelist and VRNW member Kate Christie, whose mother Jane used VSED in early 2020 to escape the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease, has released a new book, The VSED Handbook: A Practical Guide to Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking. A combination instructional manual/personal memoir, The VSED Handbook provides detailed instructions for planning and carrying out …
Book Release: The VSED Handbook by Kate Christie Read More »
Recently, VSED Resources Northwest coordinator and co-founder Nancy Simmers published a piece on the Good Death Society blog, a project of Final Exit Network (FEN). To read more, visit Sharing VSED Resources In My Community – The Good Death Society Blog.
Hi. I’m Kate, daughter of Jane, who is the reason I’m here in more ways than one–“here” as in the world, but also “here” working with VSED Resources Northwest. My mom, with the support of most of our family, chose to end her life on her own terms in February 2020 by voluntarily stopping eating …
Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED) is becoming a more recognized end-of-life choice, and more patients are choosing to hasten their death by stopping eating and drinking. Typically, they make this choice when they feel that their body is so severely compromised that their quality of life is no longer acceptable. Many patients, afraid of …
Is a VSED Webinar in conflict with PeaceHealth’s ethical policies? Not really. Read More »
By Andrea Fenwick One of the things that I learned from being a hospice volunteer is that hearing is the last sense that we lose before we die. Even after someone has died, speaking words of kindness, love, and peace offer comfort to those still living; and singing can soothe and bring a sense of …
The following poem was written by Kate Vredvoogd while being present with and sitting at the bedside of her beloved father, Bruce Vredvoogd, during his 11 day VSED process. Kate is a writer, photographer and teacher of the English language. Her website is www.wanderlustwords.com. My dad is the trickster, the quiet careful listenerwho hears the …
