eli5: Patients in hospice care are often unconscious due to high doses of sedative drugs, and are given no intravenous fluids, which leads to death by dehydration. Why is this done? Is there any difference between this and physician-assisted suicide?

Question

eli5: Patients in hospice care are often unconscious due to high doses of sedative drugs, and are given no intravenous fluids, which leads to death by dehydration. Why is this done? Is there any difference between this and physician-assisted suicide?

In: Other

Answer 1

Look into DNR (do not resuscitate). The short answer is it’s not “physician assisted”… you have the right/agency to deny medication/food or to be or not be in a vegetative state.

Assisted suicide brings up thorny ethical & economic issues.