diff --git a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/RestfulServer.java b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/RestfulServer.java
index 59b7d6e5b84..77ec7f02feb 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/RestfulServer.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/RestfulServer.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ package ca.uhn.fhir.rest.server;
 import static org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils.isBlank;
 import static org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils.isNotBlank;
 
+import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.Writer;
@@ -651,13 +652,15 @@ public class RestfulServer extends HttpServlet implements IRestfulServer<Servlet
 			 * This is basically the end of processing for a successful request, since the
 			 * method binding replies to the client and closes the response.
 			 */
-			resourceMethod.invokeServer(this, requestDetails);
+			Closeable outputStreamOrWriter = (Closeable) resourceMethod.invokeServer(this, requestDetails);
 
 			for (int i = getInterceptors().size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
 				IServerInterceptor next = getInterceptors().get(i);
 				next.processingCompletedNormally(requestDetails);
 			}
 
+			outputStreamOrWriter.close();
+			
 		} catch (NotModifiedException e) {
 
 			for (int i = getInterceptors().size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
@@ -1141,24 +1144,19 @@ public class RestfulServer extends HttpServlet implements IRestfulServer<Servlet
 		if (allowPrefer) {
 			addContentLocationHeaders(theRequest, servletResponse, response, resourceName);
 		}
+		Writer writer;
 		if (outcome != null) {
 			ResponseEncoding encoding = RestfulServerUtils.determineResponseEncodingWithDefault(theRequest);
 			servletResponse.setContentType(encoding.getResourceContentType());
-			Writer writer = servletResponse.getWriter();
+			writer = servletResponse.getWriter();
 			IParser parser = encoding.getEncoding().newParser(getFhirContext());
 			parser.setPrettyPrint(RestfulServerUtils.prettyPrintResponse(this, theRequest));
-			try {
-				outcome.execute(parser, writer);
-			} finally {
-				writer.close();
-			}
+			outcome.execute(parser, writer);
 		} else {
 			servletResponse.setContentType(Constants.CT_TEXT_WITH_UTF8);
-			Writer writer = servletResponse.getWriter();
-			writer.close();
+			writer = servletResponse.getWriter();
 		}
-		// getMethod().in
-		return null;
+		return writer;
 	}
 
 	@Override
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/interceptor/ExceptionHandlingInterceptor.java b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/interceptor/ExceptionHandlingInterceptor.java
index 38690f6fc1b..22e70e1dac4 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/interceptor/ExceptionHandlingInterceptor.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/interceptor/ExceptionHandlingInterceptor.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ package ca.uhn.fhir.rest.server.interceptor;
  */
 import static org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils.isNotBlank;
 
+import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -51,7 +52,8 @@ public class ExceptionHandlingInterceptor extends InterceptorAdapter {
 
 	@Override
 	public boolean handleException(RequestDetails theRequestDetails, BaseServerResponseException theException, HttpServletRequest theRequest, HttpServletResponse theResponse) throws ServletException, IOException {
-		handleException(theRequestDetails, theException);
+		Closeable writer = (Closeable) handleException(theRequestDetails, theException);
+		writer.close();
 		return false;
 	}
 
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/servlet/ServletRestfulResponse.java b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/servlet/ServletRestfulResponse.java
index 8510f55c5d5..c34836ec8e2 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/servlet/ServletRestfulResponse.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/rest/server/servlet/ServletRestfulResponse.java
@@ -50,12 +50,12 @@ public class ServletRestfulResponse extends RestfulResponse<ServletRequestDetail
 		theHttpResponse.setStatus(stausCode);
 		theHttpResponse.setContentType(contentType);
 		if (bin.getContent() == null || bin.getContent().length == 0) {
-			return null;
+			return theHttpResponse.getOutputStream();
 		} else {
 			theHttpResponse.setContentLength(bin.getContent().length);
 			ServletOutputStream oos = theHttpResponse.getOutputStream();
 			oos.write(bin.getContent());
-			return null;
+			return oos;
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -83,8 +83,8 @@ public class ServletRestfulResponse extends RestfulResponse<ServletRequestDetail
 	}
 
 	@Override
-	public final Object sendWriterResponse(int status, String contentType, String charset, Writer writer) throws IOException {
-		return null;
+	public final Object sendWriterResponse(int theStatus, String theContentType, String theCharset, Writer theWriter) throws IOException {
+		return theWriter;
 	}
 
 	@Override