Reinserting feeding tube may hasten Ms. Schiavo's death

[Lindacooks]

'Dr. Sean Morrison, a professor of palliative medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said it's hard to predict what would happen if the tube were reinserted because it's highly unusual to do that after life-prolonging treatments have been stopped.

He said that if her kidneys have already shut down, reinserting the tube might prolong her life by just hours or days. However, it could also hasten her death, Morrison said, because it would supply fluids to a body that can no longer get rid of them.

The resulting fluid buildup could essentially drown Schiavo, and she could die gasping and choking, he said.

Morrison said Schiavo would have no awareness of this because of her persistent vegetative state, but reinserting the tube might "transform a peaceful death into one that can be very distressing for families and friends to witness."'

<snip>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20050330/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman_41

[BOSSHOG]

1. Dr Morrison will now need Police Protection

He will be savaged by the right wing hate machine as a life hating liberal. My father died last year after suffering from Alzheimers and Prostate Cancer. He went into a coma and died at home. His kidneys gave out, the doctor said there is nothing to do but wait. He last about three days with no food or water. It was the right thing to do.

Dr Morrison is obviously an honest, educated, rational human being, ergo the hate that will soon come his way.

[ComerPerro]

2. Like the right wing cares about that

They just want to feel that they are morally superior to most of the nation. They don't care if she suffers, or if she didn't want to be on life support for fifteen years, or if action like this may possibly cause a gruesome, painful death.

They don't give a shit. They never did.

[Plaid Adder]

3. This happened to someone I know

A friend of mine just lost her partner to ovarian cancer. She was at home for the last couple weeks and had basically stopped eating and drinking because she wasn't retaining anything. At the last minute, on her own, she decided to go into the hospital and get rehydrated and get a feeding tube. She died a couple days later.

The hydration and feeding, according to the nurses, actually probably hastened the process because she couldn't digest any of it because of a massive intestinal blockage that kept everything from getting through; it backed up her throat instead. Essentially, she suffocated in her own waste. If she had stayed home, she might have had a few more days; but she would ahve been extremely uncomfortable that way too. It was going to be a gruelling and miserable death no matter what.

It's all very sad, but the point is death is not pleasant for anyone. Nobody wants to go through what your body has to go through in order to die. But it will come for all of us at some point, and we can fool around with technology as much as we want but that's not gonna make anyone immortal.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[Horse with no Name]

4. At this point the feeding tube isn't the paramount issue

They could begin intravenous hydration which would be preferable at this juncture.
They could also insert a tube in her nose and do feeds that way until she was strong enough to withstand the surgery.
However, if there is kidney damage they would more than likely have to do dialysis. If there is other organ damage, little could be done.
With all that said, when you travel this path...there is always a point of no return, the $500 question is--has it been reached?