Feeding or dying: A new ethical dilemma in old age?
Foureur, Nicolas
Feeding or dying: A new ethical dilemma in old age? - 2020.
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At the Center for Clinical Ethics, we have been increasingly involved over the last ten years in geriatric cases in which there is an ethical dilemma around withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration (WANH). Indeed, on the clinical level, identifying how and for how long to artificially feed geriatric patients who can no longer feed themselves has become a more frequent issue. This is the result of the rise in life expectancy, of the emergence of new supplementary feeding technologies, and of the latest laws on the end of life, which make more explicit the evident link between WANH and death. In this article, we intend to show the complexity of these ethical questions, without claiming to propose any definitive answer. We will wonder what it means, from an ethical point of view, to stop feeding/hydrating a patient. We will question whether we should consider differently the withdrawal of artificial nutrition, of oral but entirely artificially modified nutrition and hydration, and of natural nutrition and hydration. Finally, we will explore the nature of the intentions of healthcare professionals who decide to stop feeding and hydrating a patient.
Feeding or dying: A new ethical dilemma in old age? - 2020.
1
At the Center for Clinical Ethics, we have been increasingly involved over the last ten years in geriatric cases in which there is an ethical dilemma around withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration (WANH). Indeed, on the clinical level, identifying how and for how long to artificially feed geriatric patients who can no longer feed themselves has become a more frequent issue. This is the result of the rise in life expectancy, of the emergence of new supplementary feeding technologies, and of the latest laws on the end of life, which make more explicit the evident link between WANH and death. In this article, we intend to show the complexity of these ethical questions, without claiming to propose any definitive answer. We will wonder what it means, from an ethical point of view, to stop feeding/hydrating a patient. We will question whether we should consider differently the withdrawal of artificial nutrition, of oral but entirely artificially modified nutrition and hydration, and of natural nutrition and hydration. Finally, we will explore the nature of the intentions of healthcare professionals who decide to stop feeding and hydrating a patient.
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