{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T03:12:14Z","timestamp":1788923534010,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,5]],"date-time":"2024-02-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1707091200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J American Geriatrics Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Many patients with dementia want the option of using medical aid in dying (MAID) to end their lives before losing decision\u2010making capacity and other abilities that impact their desired quality of life. But, for over two decades, it has been widely understood that these patients cannot (solely because of their dementia diagnosis) satisfy three statutory eligibility requirements in all U.S. MAID laws: (1) decisional capacity, (2) the ability to self\u2010administer the life\u2010ending medications, and (3) a terminal condition with 6 months or less to live. Now, because of recent statutory amendments together with the use of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) to quickly advance to a terminal condition, this dementia exclusion from MAID might no longer apply. If combining VSED and MAID is now a possibility for patients with dementia, then clinicians need more guidance on whether and when to support patients seeking to take this path. In this article, we begin to provide this guidance. First, we describe the recent case of an Oregon patient with early\u2010stage Alzheimer's dementia who successfully used VSED to qualify for and use MAID. Second, we discuss prior barriers to using VSED as a bridge to MAID for people with dementia. Third, we describe recent legal changes that might make this path now possible.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/jgs.18785","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,7]],"date-time":"2024-02-07T05:31:36Z","timestamp":1707283896000},"page":"1216-1222","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Medical aid in dying to avoid late\u2010stage dementia"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"72","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7163-505X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thaddeus Mason","family":"Pope","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Mitchell Hamline School of Law  Saint Paul Minnesota USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lisa","family":"Brodoff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Seattle University School of Law  Seattle Washington USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_14_2_1","unstructured":"HenigRM.Despite sweeping aid in dying law few will have that option. NPR.2015."},{"key":"e_1_2_14_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-62073-8_5"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_4_1","unstructured":"Oregon Revised Statutes \u00a7 127.850."},{"key":"e_1_2_14_5_1","volume-title":"UpToDate","author":"Battin P","year":"2023"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_6_1","first-page":"1353","article-title":"Assistance with eating and drinking only when requested can prevent living with advanced dementia","volume":"20","author":"Volicer L","year":"2019","journal-title":"JAMDA"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_7_1","volume-title":"O, Let Me Not Get Alzheimer's, Sweet Heaven: Why Many People Prefer Death or Active Deliverance to Living with Dementia","author":"Brewer C","year":"2019"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_8_1","volume-title":"In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss","author":"Bloom A","year":"2022"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_9_1","volume-title":"The VSED Handbook: A Practical Guide to Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking","author":"Christie K","year":"2022"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_10_1","volume-title":"Choosing to Die: A Personal Story: Elective Death by Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED) in the Face of Degenerative Disease","author":"Shacter P","year":"2017"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_11_1","volume-title":"When My Time Comes: Conversations About Whether Those Who Are Dying Should Have the Right to Determine When Life Should End","author":"Rehm D","year":"2021"},{"key":"e_1_2_14_12_1","unstructured":"BrooksJ.A good death for a Minnesota woman who championed the right to die with dignity. 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