Fasting Found to Be "Good” Death for the Terminally Ill

In a study of terminally ill patients, researchers have found that some are choosing to hasten death by refusing food and fluids, a legal alternative that appears to result in a peaceful death with little pain or suffering. The findings were reported in the July 24, 2003, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

The terminally ill patients who fasted usually died within two weeks of stopping food and fluids. Attending nurses reported that these patients were ready to die, saw continued existence as pointless, and considered their quality of life poor. On a scale of zero (very bad death) to nine (very good death), the nurses rated the median score for the quality of death as eight. The study took place in Oregon (USA), where physician-assisted suicide is legal. However, almost twice as many patients chose fasting as those who chose suicide, and they were, on average, older (74 vs 64). Most people in both groups had cancer.

"The idea to stop eating and drinking was not coming from physicians,” said Linda Garzani, M.D., director of the Palliative Care Fellowship at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center (OR, USA). "In fact, physicians worried about the choice and were surprised when patients had a very peaceful death and didn't suffer from hunger or thirst.” The study was based on responses to questionnaires sent to nurses in hospice programs by Dr. Garzani and colleagues at the Oregon Hospice Association.




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