ArticleThe Journal of international medical research2020
Family physicians' perspective on voluntary stopping of eating and drinking: a cross-sectional study.
Article in The Journal of international medical research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- The experience of nurses when providing care across acts that may be perceived as death hastening: A qualitative evidence synthesis.Palliative medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Navigating resistive behavior that adversely affects the intake of food and fluids in people living with dementia: A multiple case study.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2026Article
- Carers' Perspective on Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking: A Systematic Mixed-Methods Review of Motives and Attitudes.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in Japanese home care: A cross-sectional survey.Journal of general and family medicine · 2025Article
- Frequency of self-directed dying in the Netherlands: research protocol of a cross-sectional mixed-methods study.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Ethical challenges around thirst in end-of-life care -experiences of palliative care physicians.BMC medical ethics · 2023Article
- Thirst or dry mouth in dying patients?-A qualitative study of palliative care physicians' experiences.PloS one · 2023Article
- "Discussion or silent accompaniment: a grounded theory study about voluntary stopping of eating and drinking in Switzerland".BMC palliative care · 2022Article
- Family caregivers' advocacy in voluntary stopping of eating and drinking: A holistic multiple case study.Nursing open · 2022Article
- Article
- Patients Who Seek to Hasten Death by Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking: A Qualitative Study.Annals of family medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveWe aimed to determine how often patients who choose voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED) are accompanied by Swiss family physicians, how physicians classify this process, and physicians' attitudes and professional stance toward VSED.
methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study between August 2017 and July 2018 among 751 practicing family physicians in Switzerland (response rate 74%; 70.7% men; average age 58 (±9) years). We used a standardized evidence-based questionnaire for the survey.
resultsVSED is well-known among family physicians (81.9%), and more than one-third (42.8%) had accompanied at least one patient during VSED. In 2017, 1.1% of all deaths that occurred in Swiss nursing homes or in a private home were owing to VSED. This phenomenon was classified as a natural dying process (59.3%), passive euthanasia (32.0%), or suicide (5.3%).
conclusionsAlthough about one in three Swiss family physicians have accompanied a person during VSED, family physicians lack sufficient in-depth knowledge to address patients and their relatives in an appropriate manner during the process. Further training and development of practice recommendations are needed to achieve more standardized accompaniment of VSED.
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