The very good news is that law will uphold a right to VSED in the context of persons stricken with fatal or serious degenerative maladies.
There will continue to be grey areas and varying perspectives about whether or not a Health Directive, when written when someone is healthy, will hold up and be followed when someone is in the late stages of dementia and is no longer mentally competent. This is a good article exploring this issue. Certainly at this time, I would not rely on a Health Directive to dictate whether or not a person is fed in the late stages of dementia.
Maybe the issue is bigger and deeper. Maybe the issue is getting clear about the kind of death we want to have. This is something that my husband spent a lot of energy on before he made his decision to voluntarily stop eating and drinking. His demonstration became his legacy to me. It motivated me to look closely at my own thoughts about death and death, and my fears surrounding this. I go into depth of my journey through grief on my website. In my own way, I am already preparing myself emotionally for my death. And I expect to live many more good years! Rather than avoiding this charged issue, I’ve begun to explore it myself. This doesn’t mean that I won’t change my mind. But increasing clarity is bringing me more peace of mind. There are no easy answers. This is deeply personal.