An Alternative to the Feeding Tube - The New Old Age Blog - NYTimes.com

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The Times reports today on a new option in palliative care called “comfort feeding only.”

At issue: Feeding tubes do not necessarily prolong life in patients with advanced dementia, and surveys indicate that a vast majority of nursing home residents say they would rather die than live with a feeding tube.

But medical orders like “no artificial hydration and nutrition” — used to indicate that the patient should not be given a feeding tube — are often interpreted as “do not feed.” And few people can tolerate the idea that a loved one may be starving to death.

Comfort feeding offers another alternative.

“Just imagine someone interacting with the patient, talking to them, cueing them into eating,” said Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University’s medical school, “as opposed to someone walking to the bedside and pouring a bottle of Ensure down the feeding tube.”

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