Reply #47: Two things are wrong about your premise.

[Cleita]

First you are allowing them to frame the process as starvation. It's actually a natural process of dehydration when death is coming. Even conscience people lose their appetite and don't want to eat. I know my husband did this before he died.

Secondly, pain killers are routine in hospice care so that people don't feel pain and discomfort if it's possible for them to do so. It's probably more painful for her to process food if her body is rejecting it and if she can feel pain. Also, the lungs and organs can fill up with liquid making the dying person more uncomfortable and in pain than withholding food and water.