Withholding treatment at the end of life.

When a patient isn’t capable of eating because he or she is ill, a healthcare provider is forced to make the decision of providing nutrition and hydration through intravenous hydration and a feeding tube. Healthcare providers usually don’t have a problem with starting this process, but withholding it at the end of life often becomes an issue that both physicians and family members face. Some people consider medically provided nutrition and hydration a basic human need, and subjecting the patient to a painful death through starvation and dehydration is immoral and barbaric. I feel that patients who aren’t going to recover from their illness should be taken off of feeding tubes by withholding the basic nutrients and hydration needed to live. Research studies have proven that forgoing nutrition and hydration near the end of life leads to greater patient comfort. In fact the study showed that these patients generally did not experience thirst or hunger through this process. People are getting feeding tubes confused with actual drink and food, which is not the case. Feeding tubes are small plastic tube passed through the nose or mouth into the stomach which provides the hydration and nutrients the patient needs to live. Now to me that sounds more barbaric.