This situation would only arise if the patient's under-nourishment was so severe that it became a danger to life, thus justifying enforced treatment. Every effort would clearly be made to persuade the sufferer to accept a treatment regime voluntarily, and this might include a tube feed. Conclusion Christians believe that the soul is eternal but the body is temporal and mortal. The soul is inextricably linked with memory, purpose, moral qualities, personal relationships and spirituality, even if these attributes are present in the slightest degree. Christians thus seek to protect human life defined in these terms.
Christians also have a distinctive view of death and dying.
Death is a portal to eternity, not extinction. Our duty as health carers is lovingly to help our patients through birth, life and death, but not to prolong their dying. It is not incumbent upon us to postpone death indefinitely when mental faculties have irrecoverably ceased due to cerebral damage or disease, and remaining life consists only of autonomically controlled systems. It may take moral conviction and courage for a com-passionate carer to give or continue an infusion, or conversely to withhold or withdraw it. John Lennard-Jones edited a report published by the King's Fund Centre in 1992 entitled 'A Positive Approach to Nutrition as Treatment'.