As you read this issue of NCP, I encourage you to reflect on your own viewpoints on withholding and withdrawing the very therapy we spend much of our energy providing. No doubt we will be facing these ethical dilemmas for a long time to come. It's a great way to keep current on the myriad of clinical nutrition articles without subscribing to every journal. This has traditionally been a popular section, and I'm pleased that Anne has taken the helm. I hope to see you all at the Clinical Congress next month.
Ethical issues seem to be coming out of the woodwork.
The reader of this issue of NCP is privileged to have available three outstanding papers8-10 covering aspects of withholding and withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration at the end of life. The author also touches on the emotions that the clinicians themselves inevitably bring to the decision-making process. Legal and Ethical Considerations Thomas Wm. When the life-sustaining care includes artificial nutrition and hydration, however, families and other surrogate decision makers sometimes reach a different conclusion than when the care consists of ventilation or other life support. Over time there has emerged, however, a clear consensus concerning decisions to forgo nutrition and hydration, and there is near-unanimity in the court decisions on this subject.