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Voluntary stopping of eating and drinking in advance directives for adults with late‐stage dementia
Author(s) -
Trowse Philippa
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/ajag.12737
Subject(s) - dignity , legislation , dementia , directive , psychology , turnover , psychiatry , medicine , law , political science , disease , management , pathology , computer science , economics , programming language
Objective The objective of this paper is to explore the ethical and legal validity of advance directives that request the voluntary stopping of eating and drinking against a backdrop of late‐stage dementia. Method Doctrinal research and analysis of primary and secondary materials including Australian legislation, Australian case law and journal articles was undertaken. Results There is legal uncertainty in Australia around whether an advance directive to voluntarily stop eating and drinking will be followed should the adult become incompetent. Conclusion Voluntary stopping of eating and drinking should be viewed in law as a form of “treatment” that competent adults can nominate in advance directives, thereby providing dementia patients with the opportunity to choose in advance, if they wish, to end their life legally, with dignity and comfort, and in a manner that does not implicate others in criminal behaviour such as assisted suicide, acceleration of death or euthanasia.