I was severely anorexic during uni. Hospitalized for four months. Nearly died. I wanted to write what I ate for breakfast in this post to prove that I don't care about calories/weight/etc., but I literally couldn't remember (edit - it was a danish. And some Assam milk tea with pearls). That's how much of a not-big-deal food is in my life. I consider myself fully recovered in every sense of the word.

I find it offensive that you would believe that having an eating disorder is some kind of death sentence that defines your life. It certainly didn't define mine, nor the many women and men I met during my hospitalization. Some died, yes, and lost their battle, but I don't think they would want to be remembered as someone whose eating disordered thoughts reflected their truth. They fought a noble battle against the forces working against them - the irrationality that starvation brings being one of them.

I will add that I met a woman in hospital about the age of the woman in the article. She was severely malnourished, unable to use a knife or fork, spoke in small, incoherent sentences, asked us bizarre questions, and, when writing a farewell card for another patient, was found to be unable to sign her name (it looked like a four-year-old's signature). She had been in and out of hospitals, placed under legal guardianship by her family and had the disease so young, presumably, that it consumed most of her life. After two weeks, another patient was leaving, and we got her to sign the card again - this time, perfect cursive. She'd been tube fed and given proper calorie intake during that time. Starvation is a bitch. It literally shrinks the brain. I would never want to be judged on the thoughts or actions I took during that time, and it's distressing that this judge had such a severe misunderstanding of an illness that robs you of the capacity to act in your best interests - that's what it is - self-harm, in the most damaging of ways.

I'll admit that I found this article to be very upsetting. I completely disagree with your statement that her right to refuse to eat should be protected. Her life, and her humanity, which eating disorders run counter to and destroy, should be protected until she has the capacity to appreciate them and make actions that best serve her true, authentic interests. If then, she decides that life is not worth it, I'll protect her right to end it on her own terms. In throes of an eating disorder is not one of those times.