Oral feeding difficulties and dilemmas

Oral feeding toward the end of life can be fraught with dilemmas for health professionals dealing with patients who cannot clearly give their views. On the one hand, is providing artificial feeding an essential requirement and failing to do this tantamount to manslaughter, or is it assaulting a frail and dying individual? In a protocol-driven medical environment, many frail and unwell patients may be placed ′nil by mouth′ and receive artificial feeding before full consideration regarding all their medical and social issues has taken place.