The withdrawal of food and water is “assisted suicide”

Publié le 20 Nov, 2017

In some countries where euthanasia or assisted suicide is banned, the withdrawal of food and water is deemed to be “ethically and legally accessible”. However, one article published in BMC Medicine relates this practice to assisted suicide “at least in some cases”. One of the authors, Ralf J. Jox from Munich University, explains that the withdrawal of food and water is not only an intention to trigger death but actually causes it. Furthermore, doctors who adopt or encourage this practice are “implicated in the death of their patients”, because death would not occur without their intervention. Consequently, the widespread position, including that adopted by palliative care societies, namely not to approve assisted suicide but to condone the withdrawal of food and water, is “inconsistent” according to the authors.

Bioedge, Xavier Symons (4/11/2017)

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