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

IV fluids artificially prolong life. You can receive IVF in hospice if that’s on your care plan – typically as a comfort measure – but a person can linger for days or weeks, even if they’re not eating or are not awake, if they are on IVF. That’s not ideal for dying people.