Is A Feeding Tube Considered Life Support. Those who argue in favor of providing artificial nutrition claim that food, even if given through tube feeding is a basic and ordinary form of nourishment that sustains and preserves life. While food and water are essential to life, there is considerable controversy in the medical literature as to how much artificial nutrition and hydration help at the time of death.
In my opinion, inserting a feeding tube into your mother's stomach may increase the number of days she is alive, but i think she would try to. It can be easier to breathe, for example, and carries less risk of skin breakdown and. Many physicians who withdraw food and water in response to advance directives state that a feeding tube is a form of artificial life support that is similar to a ventilator.
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Less urgent forms of life support include dialysis to filter toxins from the blood, and a feeding tube or an iv to give nutrition and water. If a patient can't or won't eat or drink, the doctor might suggest a feeding tube. Feeding by the enteral route (using a tube or a witzel fistula) may be very. It can be easier to breathe, for example, and carries less risk of skin breakdown and.
