What about nutrition and hydration?
Should I always choose nutrition and hydration - food and water?
Or it is OK not to have nutrition and hydration in some circumstances?
Food and water, as well as warmth and shelter, are, in most circumstances, normal human care, not extraordinary medical interventions. Morally speaking, providing nutrition and hydration to the patient-or withdrawing nutrition and hydration-is dependent upon whether its usage is helpful and necessary for life, or harmful, causing a potential worsening of the illness or hastened death.
For instance, if a person is simply unconscious and unable to eat orally, but is otherwise medically healthy and in need normal human care such as food and water and warmth and shelter, then a moral obligation to provide food and hydration exists. But if a person is terminally ill, the decision whether to have food and water would be predicated on particular medical circumstances and whether nutrition and hydration would be helpful or harmful. If a person is having difficulty taking in or processing food and water, (no matter how it is delivered, by mouth or via intravenous or tube feeding), then there is no moral or medical obligation to provide such nutrition or hydration.
When a person's body can no longer process nutrition and hydration, as the heart, lungs, kidneys, and digestive system start to close down, it is no longer necessary to provide nutrition and hydration. Except for providing some moisture to the mouth and lips, there will probably be no sensation of hunger or thirst. In fact, the closer a person is to dying, the more likely food and fluids are likely to increase abdominal discomfort, cause difficulty breathing with a build up of fluid around the lungs and heart as circulation slows, and even hasten death.
2006 Eileen T. Geller. Updated 2009.
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