Care should be taken to ensure that the patient does not suffer pain because tube feeding is not utilized. Thus hydration or analgesics might be utilized to keep a patient comfortable as death approaches. The Court's decision does not countenance withholding food and water from patients who are able to eat, even if such nourishment must be prepared and given to them by others. This seems to be an unreasonable statement because it approves the effort to maintain life after the point at which a person can no longer strive for values and purpose of life. Mere physical existence is not a human value and the wishes of a person should not be allowed to circumvent the reasonable practice of medicine.
Medical care is unethical if it is useless care.
One would hope that they dispose physicians and families to realize that the goal in care for the dying is to help the patient die well, not to extend mere physical existence. Kevin O'Rourke, OP Footnote 1.