VOLUNTARY
DEATH BY DEHYDRATION
QUESTIONS
& ANSWERS
1. WHAT SAFEGUARDS SHOULD BE
FULFILLED
TO MAKE SURE THAT VDD IS THE
BEST COURSE OF ACTION?
2. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO DIE?
3. WILL I GET HUNGRY OR THIRSTY?
4. WOULD IT BE WISE TO HAVE
EMPTY
INTESTINES?
5. WHAT ABOUT MOUTH CARE
DURING THE PROCESS OF VDD?
6. IF I CHANGE MY MIND ABOUT
DYING BY DEHYDRATION,
WILL THERE BE ANY LASTING
DAMAGE TO MY BODY?
7. IS VOLUNTARY DEATH BY
DEHYDRATION A LEGAL OPTION?
8. WHERE CAN I FIND MORE
INFORMATION
ABOUT VOLUNTARY DEATH BY DEHYDRATION?
Preliminary
note for possibly-suicidal readers:
Nothing on this
website supports committing irrational suicide.
Voluntary death by dehydration
contains its own inherent safeguards to prevent irrational suicide:
Because it takes about 100
re-affirmations of the choice to die over a period of several days,
the 'reasons' for an irrational
suicide will often appear in a different light before death comes.
If you are
uncertain whether your wish to die is closer to voluntary
death or to irrational
suicide,
read this essay: "Four Differences
between Irrational Suicide and Voluntary Death":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-IS-VD.html
And beginning
to fulfill the following recommended safeguards
might prove to be a good
operational method
for separating the urge toward a harmful irrational
suicide
from the wish for a wise and
compassionate voluntary
death.
See 26 recommended safeguards for
life-ending decisions:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/SG-A-Z.html
Another—more philosophical—discussion of the 'reasons' for suicide
appears here:
"Depressed? Don't Kill Yourself!":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-DEP-K.html
You can receive
instant help for any suicidal urges by calling: 1-800-SUICIDE.
VOLUNTARY
DEATH BY DEHYDRATION
QUESTIONS
& ANSWERS
Voluntary death by dehydration (VDD) is a
life-ending option.
When we are near the end of our natural lives,
we can decide to shorten the process of dying
by giving up all food and water.
The lack of water will cause death
before the lack
of food.
Thus, this method of choosing a voluntary death should not be called
"starvation".
"Dehydration" is the most accurate description
of this means of
choosing a wise and compassionate death.
This website is offered as an outline for the
process of choosing VDD.
When death is chosen compassionately and wisely,
it should not be difficult to find medical professionals
who will help with each element of the process of choosing death by
dehydration.
In fact, the most open-minded hospice programs
already have extensive experience with patients
who choose this means of drawing their lives to a peaceful and painless
close.
Persons who are most serious about using this method of voluntary death
should seek hospice programs nearby
that will help them along this pathway towards death.
Some of the specific problems that might arise
can best be dealt with by professionals
who know how the human body reacts to lack of water.
1. WHAT SAFEGUARDS SHOULD
BE
FULFILLED
TO MAKE SURE THAT VDD IS THE
BEST COURSE OF ACTION?
Voluntary death by dehydration is an option that can
be used by anyone, anywhere.
Because it will take a week or ten days to die,
this method of choosing death is not likely to be used to commit
irrational suicide.
But in those cases where there might be some question
about the wisdom of dying now
rather than waiting for
death at some later time,
some simple safeguards can help everyone to know
that this was a truly
voluntary death and not an irrational suicide.
Another way to say this is that wise safeguards will prevent
premature death.
Here is a list of 26 recommended
safeguards:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/SG-A-Z.html
Each of these should be considered at least briefly
in any process of choosing a voluntary death.
Some will seem more appropriate and relevant to the situation at hand.
And if the time is short until natural death in any case,
then only a few of these safeguard would be useful.
2. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO DIE?
Voluntary death by dehydration will normally take a
week or ten days.
The exact length of time between taking the decision to die
and when your body finally gives out
will depend on the amount of stored water in your tissues
and on how much water you use to prevent the worst symptoms of dying
by dehydration.
You are probably considering voluntary death by
dehydration
because you have some terminal illness or fatal condition.
And when some parts of your body are already beginning to shut down,
this will shorten the process of dying by dehydration.
Your death-certificate will probably record your
terminal illness as the
cause of your death
rather than the fact that you chose to shorten the process by giving up
food and water.
A complete explanation of your death could include all the relevant
facts.
3. WILL I GET HUNGRY OR THIRSTY?
Yes, there will be a period, especially at the
beginning,
when your body will declare that it needs water and food.
But this period of time should last only 1-3 days.
After a while, the body adjusts to the fact of not getting any more
food.
It begins to use fat cells to maintain itself.
And these fat cells also contain a lot of water,
which will be used by your body to maintain itself for as long as
possible.
This is how camels can live for long periods of time in the desert
without food or water.
But the human body does not have as much storage capacity.
According to people who have tried this method of
voluntary death
and according to others who have observed such deaths,
the period of hunger and thirst passes relatively peacefully.
4. WOULD IT BE WISE TO HAVE
EMPTY
INTESTINES?
Yes. Some experts recommend that the patient
begin with some effective means of bowel-cleansing
before beginning the process of voluntary death by dehydration.
Because you will not be taking in any more food or water,
your suffering will be less if you have a clean digestive tract.
There will be no particles of food turning into gas in your intestines.
Any laxative would be helpful in this process.
But the kind of bowel cleansing used before a colonoscopy would be
ideal.
And psychologically, this would also be a period of
time to
think more clearly and deeply
about your choice of voluntary death by dehydration.
No damage will be done to your body if you change your mind
and start eating and drinking again after any period of
cleaning your intestines.
Other people will probably know about your plans to die by dehydration.
And they will help you with the process.
Their involvement will be an additional 'reality-check' on your reasons
for
wanting
to die.
5. WHAT ABOUT MOUTH CARE
DURING THE PROCESS OF VDD?
Mouth care is a very important element of any plan
to die by dehydration.
Your mouth will suffer drying and cracking unless some effective
methods are employed.
One simple method is to use ice chips to keep your mouth moist.
Or you could rinse your month with water as often as you please
and spit out the water instead of swallowing it.
Drinking small amounts of water will slightly delay the process of
dying.
And perhaps during your last days of life, you will
value each additional day.
On balance, extending your dying process might not be a bad choice.
While you are still aware of yourself,
you can control your precise glide-path towards death,
by controlling the exact amount of water you drink.
If you are enrolled in a hospice program while you
are dying,
the professional care-givers will have even more methods of taking care
of your mouth.
Since they have helped others to die by dehydration before,
they know just what to expect—and
how best to deal with each problem
as it arises.
6. IF I CHANGE MY MIND
ABOUT
DYING BY DEHYDRATION,
WILL THERE BE ANY LASTING
DAMAGE TO MY BODY?
The first few days without food or water will not do
any permanent damage to your body.
If you change your mind about dying by dehydration,
you can carefully resume eating and drinking.
And you body will be able to assimilate water and food once again.
People have come back from experimental fasts without harm.
And others have survived unavoidable deprivation of food and water for
several days.
Each day you must decide again to continue
your chosen method of dying.
This is one of the strongest, built-in safeguards of VDD.
When you choose to die by dehydration,
this is a choice you must
make over and over again,
perhaps as many as 100 times during the process of dying.
After 4 or 5 days, your mind will not be working as
well as normal.
So it would be important to have helpers
who will assist you in
choosing death by dehydration.
You certainly should not put yourself into a situation
in which care-givers might reverse
your decision to die
once you become unconscious.
This method of drawing life to a close is clearly a voluntary choice at the
beginning.
You are expressing your
settled values in this decision to die by
dehydration.
But you must make sure that other people around you also agree with
your decision.
This will usually have been worked out in great detail
when you are fulfilling the safeguards
intended to prevent irrational suicide or any other form of premature
death.
{See the first question—about
safeguards.}
But after you become unable to express your settled
values
—in
this case your determination to die by dehydration—
then continuing the process of dying by giving up food and water
will be controlled by others around you.
We might say that the process has shifted
from being a voluntary death
to being a merciful death
because other persons are
the primary agents for continuing the process.
For example, you would certainly not want to be in a
hospital
where the default medical care is always to give fluids artificially
once a patient has become unconscious or otherwise unresponsive.
That would defeat the whole process of dying by dehydration.
You might be kept 'alive' by tubes indefinitely.
7. IS VOLUNTARY DEATH BY
DEHYDRATION A LEGAL OPTION?
Yes, everywhere on the Earth it is a legal choice to
give up eating and drinking.
The only exceptions to this would be situations
in which the patient has been declared incompetent to make medical
decisions
(including decisions that would lead to death)
and the decision-making power has passed to others.
You can prevent any such intervention by relatives
or medical authorities
by having fulfilled strong safeguards before beginning the
process of
dying.
These safeguards are intended to make sure that you are making a wise
decision for death.
The opinions of several other people are collected
in creating your
death-planning record.
If there is going to be any legal challenge to your capacity to make
life-ending decisions,
such questions will arise at several places in the process of fulfilling
safeguards.
In short, you should prove that you are making a
wise and competent choice
to end your life by dehydration before you begin the process.
Even in societies without complex legal systems,
the right to discontinue eating and drinking is universally recognized.
Some societies have traditions that honor this choice to die by
giving
up food and water.
Only under the most exceptional circumstances
would others have the legal power to force you to eat and drink
against
your will.
8. WHERE CAN I FIND MORE
INFORMATION
ABOUT VOLUNTARY DEATH BY DEHYDRATION?
ARTICLES ON THE INTERNET:
"Voluntary
Death by Dehydration"
a four-page article by James Leonard Park,
exploring the advantages of this form of exercising the right-to-die
over all
others methods.
"Four Differences between Irrational Suicide and Voluntary Death"
Is the death helpful, rational, well-planned, & admirable?
a four-page article by JLP.
"Four
Differences between Mercy-Killing and Merciful Death"
Is the death harmful, irrational, capricious, & regrettable?
a four-page article by JLP.
"Four Legal
Ways to Choose a Voluntary Death or a Merciful Death"
Voluntary death by dehydration is one of these methods.
The others are: increasing pain medication, terminal sedation, &
withdrawing life-supports.
a four-page articles by JLP.
BOOKS SUPPORTING
VOLUNTARY DEATH BY DEHYDRATION:
The Best Way to Say Goodbye:
A Legal Peaceful Choice at
the End of Life
by Stanley Terman
A Hastened Death by
Self-Denial of Food and Drink
by Boudewijn Chabot
both of these books are reviewed in the First Books on
Voluntary Death by
Dehydration.
BEST BOOKS ON
VOLUNTARY DEATH
This bibliography reviews several books about people who have chosen
voluntary death.
Further Questions and Answers will be added to this
website
as they are suggested by readers.
Links will also be added, connecting to similar websites.
Send all comments to the webmaster: James Park,
e-mail: PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU
Created
January 30, 2009; Revised 2-15-2009; 2-18-2009; 3-6-2009; 6-15-2009
Go
to the Right-to-Die
Portal.
This portal leads to many additional resources, including several
bibliographies.