Case Studies
While it is relatively easy to find international case studies of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED), information on what VSED looks like in the UK is harder to come by. We aim to change this by building a collection of UK-focussed case studies.
We believe collecting UK case studies is essential, as each country presents its own unique challenges for those seeking support during VSED. Doing so not only helps equip people with contextually relevant information but also contributes valuable data about how VSED is currently experienced and supported in the UK.
We are beginning to write up the first UK case studies, drawn from individuals whom members of our group have accompanied during VSED, with the prior permission of the individual undertaking VSED and / or the consent of those in their immediate network. These examples provide valuable insight but inevitably represent only a small number of cases.
We would love to hear from anyone who is open to contributing a case study.
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Existing International VSED Stories and Case Studies
If you’d like to explore others’ experiences of VSED before our own case studies are available, you can find some international examples here. They offer thoughtful insights into what the process can look and feel like in practice.
Four VSED stories from the US published by VSED Resources Northwest, a volunteer-run group similar to ours based in the state of Washington, USA:
https://vsedresources.com/vsed-stories
Another four VSED stories from the US published by Compassion & Choices, an American non-profit working to improve patient autonomy and individual choice at the end of life:
https://compassionandchoices.org/VSED/
25 international case studies collected by Sterbefasten.org, a Swiss website educating about VSED (the website is in German so you will need to translate to English):
https://sterbefasten.org/fallbeispiele/fallbeispiele-1-10
Compassion in Dying's report on VSED gives a good overview of VSED in the UK. While it does not include comprehensive individual stories or case studies it outlines many informative quotes from people who have witnessed VSED journeys:
https://compassionindying.org.uk/resource/voluntarily-stopping-eating-and-drinking-vsed/