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ARTIFICIAL NUTRITION AND HYDRATION
A British High Court judge has ruled that an elderly woman in minimally conscious state should have artificial feeding withdrawn
Euthanasia is once more on the front page of French newspapers with two high-profile case in the courts.
The passing of disc jokey Casey Kasem has generated a remarkable volume of bioethical commentary. Artificial nutrition was withdrawn from an unconscious Kasem in light of an advance directive he had written. The directive was vague, and some of Kasem’s family objected to move.
A recent study in the Journal of Medical Ethics has found that in Belgium decisions to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) rarely involve patient consent.
An American doctor argues in the latest issue of the leading journal Bioethics that artificial nutrition and hydration should be withdrawn from all patients in a permanent vegetative state – unless there is clear evidence that they want to be kept alive.
It is ethical to withhold and withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) from children, says the Canadian Paediatric Society. In a bioethics position statement, it argues that medically assisted food and water are medical treatment, not an essential part of humane care.
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