Introduction: Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking

Abstract

This is the introduction to symposium that I convened and edited for Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, a Johns Hopkins University Press journal.

This symposium includes twelve personal narratives from those who have personally participated in voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED). This issue also includes three commentaries on these narratives by experts in philosophy, palliative care, and hospice medicine. The successes, challenges, and observations described by these narrative and commentary authors will not only inform the academic debate about the legitimacy of VSED but will also inform much needed practical guidance for patients, clinicians, and family members on how they can best implement and support VSED.

Keywords: VSED, voluntarily stopping eating an drinking, right to die, dehydration, end-of-life

JEL Classification: K13, I18