[ladyjane]

I am surprised no one has commented on Hospice and end of life care. It is quite common to restrict water intake for those with terminal disease.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I know my own father, dying here at home (thank God for the Home Hospice program) had limited ability to assimilate nutrition/water toward the very end. I used to give him nutritious "shakes" orally with a no-needle 5 ml syringe--- and he had ice cream to the end. (His last words mayu have been "ice cream"!)

I think the concrn here is not medically necessary restriction of oral intake, but actual neglect. If the NHS doctors in Britain are having to prescribe water to make nure nurses don't forget, there's a real problem.

The key thing is to "accompany" the dying. To be with them, sensitive to their individual needs. The presence of an alert, informed loved one, means everything.

(In my father's case, a thousand blessings upon my husband, who opened heart and home to my dear father in his declinign years and his time of passing on. A thousand blessings!)