Legal Issues
This chapter analyzes a patient’s right to have food and drink withheld when they lack decision-making capacity. Authorization for this decision typically comes from the patient’s advance directive. Yet, because the relevant statutory language varies materially from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, so does the permissibility of stopping eating and drinking by advance directive. Individuals may be able to circumvent statutory obstacles by either (1) completing a non-statutory advance directive, or (2) completing an advance directive in a permissive state and having it recognized in their home state. Furthermore, even in permissive jurisdictions, there may be challenges in implementing the directive because some incapacitated individuals in late-stage dementia may make utterances or gestures that suggest they want food and water. Individuals may be able to resolve the contradiction between the wishes of their past self and their present self by including “Ulysses clause” language in their advance directives.