The Political Hat

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: They could have just given them a Pepsi!

     First, a little mood music:

     Carrying on…

     Slow starvation is now acceptable medical treatment according to purported “bioethicists”.

“Last year, I wrote here warning about a bioethics paper that advocated restricting the amount of orally received food and water given to dementia patients, an intentional undernourishment approach that the authors labeled “minimal comfort feeding.”

“Well, the idea of death by intentional undernourishment has now hit the big time in the popular media with a long New York Times piece telling the story of a dementia patient who died under that regimen. I expect it to spark a national conversation. (I make a brief appearance in the piece. The reporter, Kate Raphael, could not have been more cordial and presented my views accurately. Also, she offers plenty of objections from medical professionals, so this response should not be deemed a criticism of her work.)

“The title of the piece asks: ‘She Didn’t Want to Live with Advanced Dementia. So Why Was She Being Kept Alive?’

“…

“The issue is not about patients who refuse hydration and calories or who have no interest in food, but of not providing as much sustenance as they may want: intentionally undernourishment. Indeed, the original bioethics paper offers this definition:

“‘Minimal Comfort Feeding: Only as much food and liquid as necessary to avoid discomfort . . .”

 “‘MCF is the provision of only enough oral nutrition and hydration to ensure comfort (Table 1). With MCF, eating and drinking is not scheduled; rather, caretakers offer food and liquids only in response to signs of hunger and thirst. Patients are neither wakened for regular mealtimes nor encouraged to eat or drink. Instead, they are offered frequent, fastidious mouth care, continued social contact, therapeutic touch, sensory distraction, and medications to relieve distress associated with apparent thirst or hunger before being provided with minimal amounts of liquid or food.’”

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