VSED: Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking

A legal option that, when supported, can hasten a peaceful death.

My clients who are ill and facing unbearable suffering don’t have many legal options for hastening the end of life.  Those unable to move to states where laws allow medical aid in dying have even fewer options.

There are some choices to explore with Final Exit Network and a slim few outside the United States. But one legal option, available to everyone, that doesn’t get nearly enough attention is voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED).

Is VSED Legal?

Yes, VSED is legal for adults of sound mind living in any of the fifty states. According to the Supreme Court decision in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, “a competent person would have a constitutionally protected right to refuse lifesaving hydration and nutrition." 

Those who choose this option include people dealing with a chronic or incurable disease. They want to end the pain they’ve been made to endure. Others might be diagnosed with dementia. They are determined to die before it renders them incompetent to m…