Author Topic: Feeding Tube (Read 1366 times)

Änσnymσus · « **on:** March 03, 2017, 10:33:18 AM »

Is a feeding tube considered ordinary care than a Catholic is bound to administer, or is it extraordinary care that can be morally refused? I'm speaking specifically of the situation of an elderly person who has become so ill and weak that they can no longer eat or drink, and will likely pass away soon anyway.

Nadir · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2017, 03:25:32 PM »

Quote from: Guest

Is a feeding tube considered ordinary care than a Catholic is bound to administer, or is it extraordinary care that can be morally refused? I'm speaking specifically of the situation of an elderly person who has become so ill and weak that they can no longer eat or drink, and will likely pass away soon anyway.

I would have thought that a feeding tube is meant for exactly the situation you describe, i.e. "the situation of an elderly person who has become so ill and weak that they can no longer eat or drink".

Food is a basic need of every human being and should be supplied, if at all possible, regardless of age or state of health. Obviously the person will be weak because of lack of food.

Is this a specific person you care for?

If so, has the person made his peace with God?

Do you have some objection to the use of a feeding tube?

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #2 on:** March 03, 2017, 04:05:01 PM »

Quote from: Nadir

Is this a specific person you care for?

No, someone I know.

Quote from: Nadir

If so, has the person made his peace with God?

Yes. A priest came a few days ago, and administered the Last Rites.

Quote from: Nadir

Do you have some objection to the use of a feeding tube?

It's not my decision. The person was in a hospital for several weeks (while being able to eat and drink), and the doctors said that the heart and kidneys were shutting down, and that while they could perform surgery, he would likely die on the table. The person decided against the surgery, and went home. After arriving home, because the organ failure, the person began to deteriorate, as the doctors said, and can no longer eat or drink.

Either way, death is approaching, but because the person said no more extraordinary measures were to be taken, no feeding tube is going to be put in place. I'm just wondering if a feeding tube is necessary morally speaking, even though he will die soon anyway.

Nadir · « **Reply #3 on:** March 03, 2017, 04:51:00 PM »

Quote from: Guest

Either way, death is approaching, but because the person said no more extraordinary measures were to be taken, no feeding tube is going to be put in place. I'm just wondering if a feeding tube is necessary morally speaking, even though he will die soon anyway.

Thank you for filling out the picture.

Although we can't know for sure how close death is, it sounds as though this person is well prepared for death, and is probably just wanting to die in peace without burdensome intervention, and he finds a feeding tube burdensome. In which case, if death does not come soon and improvements do happen, then he might reconsider.

It sounds to me, and I'm no moral theologian, that the Catholic thing is to respect his wishes.

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #4 on:** March 03, 2017, 10:15:36 PM »

To put it into context, the basic rule to follow is: The "healthcare" extended to the patient should always include "Air, Water and Food".

If you find any deviation to this, it is usually some form of euthanasia.

A feeding tube is not an "extraordinary means" of preserving life. The nutrition can bring the patient back to health.

And the doctor's or nurse's patient diagnosis or prognosis can be very biased, depending on their background.

Twelve years ago, in the Netherlands, an SSPX priest commented that if you go into a hospital and you're over 50 years old, you have a very high probability of not coming out alive.

This insane socialist state thinks it's for the "greater good"... if the older folks die.

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2017, 01:36:27 PM »

Quote from: Guest

To put it into context, the basic rule to follow is: The "healthcare" extended to the patient should always include "Air, Water and Food".

If you find any deviation to this, it is usually some form of euthanasia.

Does this mean that every time an elderly person is on their deathbed, and can no longer eat or drink on their own, they must be given a feeding tube?

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #6 on:** March 04, 2017, 11:18:08 PM »

Does every elderly person on his deathbed stop eating?

Even St. Catherine Laboure had accepted a poached egg, the day she died.

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #7 on:** March 04, 2017, 11:42:14 PM »

Quote from: Guest

Does every elderly person on his deathbed stop eating?

Even St. Catherine Laboure had accepted a poached egg, the day she died.

No, and I'm sorry if my question was unclear. Many elderly people do stop eating and drinking, however, and I would like to know what the moral thing to do is.

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #8 on:** March 05, 2017, 11:13:09 AM »

Quote from: Guest

Quote from: Guest

Does every elderly person on his deathbed stop eating?

Even St. Catherine Laboure had accepted a poached egg, the day she died.

No, and I'm sorry if my question was unclear. Many elderly people do stop eating and drinking, however, and I would like to know what the moral thing to do is.

Here's a link for reference on an Advanced Health Care Directive, based on Catholic teachings:

Catholic Teaching Concrning Euthanasia

Granted, it comes from the Archdiocese of LA, but the preface gives you the guidelines for "Proportionality" and "Nutrition and Hydration".

This was discussed in an Irish Catholic pro-life club meeting in San Francisco, after
California's ʝʊdɛօ-masonic governor, "Jelly Blown" signed an assisted ѕυιcιdє act into law in 2016.

Änσnymσus · « **Reply #9 on:** March 05, 2017, 03:57:56 PM »

Can this person suck from a straw? Protein shakes, like milk? Then a "sucker" a sponge on a handle, at bedside, to moisten the lips is advisable.

Author Topic: Feeding Tube (Read 1366 times)

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