Embracing the fullness of the Hippocratic Oath: Understanding ethics for registered dietitians in complex cases like VSED.
Abstract
The Code of Ethics for Nutrition and Dietetics Professionals (2018) is explained by and correlated with the Hippocratic Oath. A current complex ethical situation that registered dietitians may encounter is voluntary stopping of eating and drinking, when incapacitated patients facing future serious illness request to starve and dehydrate themselves to hasten their own death voluntarily. This is in contrast to situations when assisted nutrition becomes burdensome or poses no benefit for the patient and their prognosis, typically near the end of life. Dignity therapy is an up-and-coming therapeutic strategy that practitioners can learn to use for appropriate practice to uphold the four parameters of the Code of Ethics for Nutrition and Dietetics Professionals (2018). Using current evidence from medical ethics, a systematic process for deciphering moral dilemmas is presented and grounded in evidence from the American Dietetic Association (2008) and the current Code of Ethics for Nutrition and Dietetic Professionals (2018).
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