VSED

Video: Understanding VSED by the Hemlock Society of San Diego, August 23, 2026

September 1, 2026 / Education, Medical providers, Personal story, VSED

Caption: “Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) is a legal choice to end hopeless suffering by hastening death. More people are considering this end-of-life option, but few truly understand it. A daughter, a doctor, and a death doula explain the medical, practical, and emotional support that can help ensure a peaceful and dignified end-of-life experience.”

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Video: “The Cheryl Hauser Effect” Film Preview and Panel, 4/18/26

April 28, 2026 / Death with Dignity, Education, VSED

On Saturday, April 18, at Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship, Wendy Longacre Brown and Sarah Longacre held a panel discussion in Bellingham, WA, home to VSED Resources Northwest. Longtime VRNW board member Kate Christie, author of The VSED Handbook, participated in the panel, as did Phyllis Shacter, author of Choosing to Die, and Erin Mae Glass, attorney

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Article about VSED in the Salish Current

April 7, 2026 / Book corner, In the news, VRNW, VSED

On March 20, 2026, Northwest Washington online news organization Salish Current published “VSED awareness continues for those unable to use state’s Death with Dignity Act,” featuring interviews with VRNW co-founder Nancy Simmers and current board member Kate Christie. According to the article’s subtitle, “A legal end-of-life process, Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking, is gaining

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End-of-life/VSED conversation between Lewis Cohen, Jeff Zesiger, and Fran Volkmann

July 2, 2025 / Book corner, End of life planning, Palliative care, VSED

In late 2024, Forbes Library in Northampton, Mass., hosted a conversation about Dr. Lewis Cohen’s latest book, Winter’s End, a case study of a patient with early-onset Alzheimer’s dementia who chose to use VSED to hasten his death before the late stages of the disease. Also on the discussion panel were Dr. Jeff Zesiger, a

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VSED Resources NW newsletter: The VSED Dispatch, Vol. 2, Issue 1

March 6, 2025 / Newsletter, VRNW, VSED

VSED Resources Northwest has released the second issue of our newsletter, The VSED Dispatch, vol. 2, issue 1. This issue covers a recent organizational update, information on a new national VSED Advanced Directive, description of a new online VSED and MAiD grief group offered by Seattle-based A Sacred Passing (ASP), and other resources and information

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Using VSED and Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) to Avoid Late-Stage Dementia

January 15, 2025 / Death with Dignity, Medical aid-in-dying, VSED

In late 2024, attorney, medical ethics expert, and VSED advocate Professor Thaddeus Pope gave a virtual talk to the Hemlock Society of San Diego about how dementia patients might be able to utilize medical-aid-in-dying to avoid late stages of their disease. As Professor Pope explains, if the patient were to begin VSED while they still

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Quebec to approve advance requests for MAID as of Oct. 30, 2024

September 15, 2024 / Death with Dignity, In the news, Medical aid-in-dying, VSED

Canada’s medical assistance in dying law continues to evolve. A February 2015 Canadian Supreme Court ruling, Carter v. Canada, paved the way for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. The following year, Parliament passed federal legislation to allow Canadian residents to request MAiD under very specific circumstances and rules; generally, visitors to Canada are not eligible. Eligibility requirements

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Wendy Mitchell: The Case for Assisted Dying in the UK

May 15, 2024 / Book corner, Death with Dignity, Medical aid-in-dying

British co-authors Anna Wharton and Wendy Mitchell penned three bestselling books before Wendy, diagnosed in 2014 with early-onset Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, chose VSED to escape the final stages of her disease. Shortly after Wendy’s death in February 2024, Anna wrote a post for her blog, White Ink, about medical aid in dying in the

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VSED Stories: Wendy Mitchell’s Choice

April 15, 2024 / Book corner, Medical aid-in-dying, VSED

In February 2024, after a decade-long battle with early-onset dementia, British author Wendy Mitchell chose to stop eating and drinking. She details her decision-making process in a post titled, “My final hug in a mug….” on the blog Which Me am I Today? Wendy started her blog shortly after her diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s and vascular

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Using VSED as a bridge to MAiD for people with dementia?

February 12, 2024 / Hospice, Medical aid-in-dying, VSED

In a new article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, “Medical aid in dying to avoid late-stage dementia,” authors Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD, and Lisa Brodoff, JD, discuss the plight of patients with dementia who wish to use medical aid-in-dying (MAiD) but are unable to qualify due to an inability to satisfy the

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