Artificial nutrition and hydration: science, ethics and law.

The milk and the honey: ethics of artificial nutrition and hydration of the elderly on the other side of Europe.

Many health problems that elderly people face today relate not only to the nature of their affliction but also to the kind of treatment required. Such treatment often includes artificial nutrition and hydration, (ANH) a procedure which, despite its technical and invasive character, is still considered to be vested with symbolic meanings. It is precisely during the efforts to reach a legal conse...

Persistent vegetative state, withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration, and the patient's "best interests".

Editorial Persistent vegetative state, withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration, and the patient's "best interests" In this issue of the journal Anthea Fenwick, an Edinburgh University graduate law student, robustly challenges the use of "best interests" by English judges in the context of permitting withdrawal of life-supporting nutrition and hydra-tion from patients in persistent vege...

Palliative care ethics: non-provision of artificial nutrition and hydration to terminally ill sedated patients.

Withdrawing and withholding artificial nutrition and hydration from patients in a minimally conscious state: re: M and its repercussions.

In 2011 the English Court of Protection ruled that it would be unlawful to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from a woman, M, who had been in a minimally conscious state for 8 years. It was reported as the first English legal case concerning withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration from a patient in a minimally conscious state who was otherwise stable. In the absence of a vali...

Gardner; re BWV: Victorian Supreme Court makes landmark Australian ruling on tube feeding.

The Victorian Supreme Court has decided that artificial nutrition and hydration provided through a percutaneous gastrostomy tube to a woman in a persistent vegetative state may be withdrawn. The judge ruled, in line with a substantial body of international medical, ethical and legal opinion, that any form of artificial nutrition and hydration is a medical procedure, not part of palliative care,...

Position of the academy of nutrition and dietetics: ethical and legal issues in feeding and hydration.

It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that individuals have the right to request or refuse nutrition and hydration as medical treatment. Registered dietitians (RDs) should work collaboratively as part of the interprofessional team to make recommendations on providing, withdrawing, or withholding nutrition and hydration in individual cases and serve as active members of in...