Rosemary Bowen’s Self-Directed Death by Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED)

94-year old Rosemary Bowen experienced a loss of independence after a spinal compression fracture. She was clear throughout her life and after the compression fracture that once she was unable to care for herself she wanted to end her life.

Rosemary wanted to

…get out of life while the “getting was good.”

The below video follows Rosemary day by day as she commences and completes a “fast,” supported by hospice. To be clear, death by voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) causes death by dehydration, not by “starving.”

While we do not necessarily agree that VSED was the only option for Rosemary to end her life, we consider this a high-quality video that reveals the VSED process to be one sensible end-of-life option.