Reply #20: Removing feeding tubes happens every day in hospitals everywhere [View All]

My wife is a nurse and sees feeding tubes removed every day after hard, gut-wrenching decision making by brave families. Together we faced three life ending decisions like this in less than TWO YEARS. It was grueling. We sought the advice of an ethics panel meeting at a Catholic hospital. We prayed. We lay awake at night. Our faith and love for our family members got us through it.

For the record: According to my wife, who has done direct care with dying patients for over 10 years, AND according to the Visiting Nurse Association hospice nurse who helped us out with my sister's brain cancer, there is no feeling of hunger when a feeding tube is withdrawn. The sensation of hunger was gone long ago from Terri. What will happen quickly is "dehydration," which is what happened to my sister. During this phase, the only discomfort is dry mouth, or as what we think of as thirst. This can be solved by swabbing one's mouth frequently with a small, moist sponge, being careful not to put in too much because Terri--like my sister--would choke on the water, lacking a good swallowing response. This solves the thirst problem. If she continued without the feeding tube, Terri would die in a short time from dehydration, not starvation, and she would not be "thirsty" if her mouth is cared for humanely and professionally.

I'm so sorry for the graphic details, but no one seems to be explaining these things. By chance I heard a doctor speaking on a Christian radio show--something from the Moody Bible Institute--and he said her mouth will become dry and cracked and it "won't be pretty." This is irresponsible. Of course it won't be pretty. Our bodies struggle valiantly as we enter this world and they struggle desperately when we leave. It's hard work to be born and hard work to die. But each is a natural part of our lives. My only guess about that doctor is that he has compromised the truth in order to support an "agenda"--the worst hypocrisy of all.

The most infuriating thing about this whole affair is that NOW it is not the husband or doctors or judges making this decision--this case has been decided more than a dozen times in court already--but rather a bunch of grandstanding politicians. It disgusts me.

And I can't blame you one bit for being sick of this whole event. It is sad and disturbing, there is no doubt. But thanks for letting ME rant and vent, too.