Ethical problems in feeding patients with advanced dementia.

Ethical problems in feeding patients with advanced dementia.

Aged patients with dementia if not stricken by an acute disease sooner or later approach a terminal phase that is distinguished by a failure of spoon feeding. This condition induces great anxiety in the workers who care for these patients. The interaction between patient and care-worker during spoon-feeding failure is described by the psychological model of double-binding. Two serious consequen...

Tube feeding patients with advanced dementia: an ethical dilemma.

Many patients with dementia lose the ability to feed themselves in the advanced stages of the disease. Tube feeding is sometimes initiated to overcome feeding difficulties. Recent studies have questioned the appropriateness of tube feeding in these patients. There is limited research to support the benefits of enteral nutrition in patients with advanced dementia. Deciding whether to tube feed o...

Feeding decisions in advanced dementia.

When close to death, people stop eating. In neurodegenerative conditions swallowing may become unsafe, and artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) may be proposed or requested. But nutrition is surrounded by other considerations: opportunity, help, environment, enjoyment, mood, social being and symbolic importance. Poor care or deliberate attempts to end life might also result in poor nutritio...

Tube feeding in patients with dementia.

Enteral tube feeding for older people with advanced dementia.

BACKGROUND The use of enteral tube feeding for patients with advanced dementia who have poor nutritional intake is common. In one US survey 34% of 186,835 nursing home residents with advanced cognitive impairment were tube fed. Potential benefits or harms of this practice are unclear. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the outcome of enteral tube nutrition for older people with advanced dementia who deve...