Armond and Dorothy Rudolph - Successful VSED at Last

ABC News reported, today, on the deaths of Armond and Dorothy Rudolph.  In their 90s, their bodies were failing them.  “He suffered severe pain from spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column. She was almost entirely immobile. Both suffered from early dementia.”    They did not want to endure a lingering decline.  They did not want to lose their independence.  They wanted to die

They voluntarily stopped eating and drinking (VSED).  But three days into their fast, the couple told their plan to staff at their assisted facility.  Administrators immediately called 911, citing an attempted suicide.  The Village evicted the couple, and the next day, the Rudolphs moved into a private home.  Once there, the couple again stopped eating and drinking.  Ten days after he began the fast, Armond Rudolph died.  Dorothy Rudolph died the following day. 

The story discusses the legal reasons the facility may have evicted the Rudolphs.  As I argued in an article published earlier this year, those legal reasons are probably baseless.  Facilities should honor patients' decisions to VSED.