More and more people, particularly the very elderly, are becoming interested in what is known as fasting to death - a method of ending their own lives in a self-determined way. What does this mean for relatives, doctors and nurses? Is fasting to death an unpleasant or a harmonious experience? This volume presents a variety of experiences from 21 case histories, supplemented with several discussion essays. The book is an important contribution to the current debate on terminal care and premature death and provides comprehensive information on the topic of fasting to death and voluntary renunciation of food and fluids for nurses, doctors, psychologists and others involved in the topic or asked for help as relatives. Important for everyone looking for more empirical knowledge about the topic.

Peter Kaufmann, Publizist, Präsident des Stiftungsrats palliacura, Zürich. Manuel Trachsel, PD Dr. med. Dr. phil., Leiter der Abteilung Klinische Ethik am Universitätsspital und an den Universitären Psychiatrischen Kliniken Basel, Privatdozent am Institut für Biomedizinische Ethik und Medizingeschichte, Universität Zürich. Christian Walther, Neurobiologe i. R., vormals ehrenamtlicher ambulanter Hospizhelfer bei den Johannitern in Marburg.