Nursing home lets woman with dementia die, despite doubts over death wish

An 86-year-old woman died of dementia in a nursing home in Sittard last year after going without food or drink for ten days, although it was doubtful whether she wanted to.

It happened in the nursing home of the Zuyderland en Zorg Foundation. The institution itself reported the incident to the investigation.

Consciously stopping eating and drinking (mortification) can be an option to hasten death.

Health and Youth Care Inspectorates say not enough was done to ensure that the woman could decide for herself, without influence from others, whether she still wanted to eat or drink.

Also, not enough would be done to determine whether the woman with dementia was still capable of making her own decision. The woman is said to have spoken differently about her death wish.

There was a lot of consultation in the nursing home regarding the provision of care, but there was still a lot of uncertainty amongst each other. “The health care providers involved have expressed their conscientious objections, but not enough action has been taken. There were many assumptions on both sides that have not been proven,” the report says.

The investigation concludes that the nursing home has not complied with the legal requirements “intended to ensure that care is provided in accordance with the wishes of the client.”

The nursing home says it deeply regrets the incident and has now taken action. The nursing home is working on a new policy and developing tools to deal with families in complicated situations. Therefore the inspectors do not apply any measures.