@ yehudayona, iluvchulent, oomis,writersoul:
i agree that the story about the godol does sound a little far fetched, but we dont know the circumstances. it could be the story was taken out of context, but in any case i think you are focusing on a detail rather than the important point the OP is trying to bring to the public’s attention.
godol story aside, this is a very real and frightening issue that im glad the OP brought up, because, as you can see from the other posts, this wasnt an isolated incident. now i understand this is the common practice with hospice care, both in home and in facilities. as inamom and syag said, the whole point of hospice is to end the patients days in peace, and if you can do that quicker by withholding water and nutrients, thats what they’ll do.
i would hate to see this issue be brushed aside in peoples minds because of an anecdote that is just that- an anecdote.
perhaps there is some asken out there who will see this and is bothered by it, and will hopefully do something about it to avoid any more premature deaths in our community.