No longer a steak and potatoes man!!
Absolutely not..because most of mankind and medicine has always been for the healing and helping of those in need. God by His grace has imparted to His human race compassion, caring and love to their fellow man. If that weren't true you would of died long ago.
Some reasons for a feeding tube...
Child born without an esophagus
Prematurity, immature sucking reflex
Cancer of the esophagus
Throat cancer
Spinal cord injury
paralysis of the mouth, throat
Psychosis
Dementia
Aspiration
Esophageal Reflux
Inabilty to swallow adequately
Any of these problems would need a feeding tube for more than a few days and some may need it for the duration of their life. Some problems listed above would need a feeding tube till other surgical or therapeutic interventions alleviated the underlying cause.
Speech therapy could have certainly benefitted Terri and patience with her feeding time could have allowed her to take in her food orally. IMHO after many years in the medical field.
A high school friend of mine had a Cerebral Palsy sister who would be fed by her Mom orally, it took 1-1/2 hours per meal to feed her. She lived to be 26 yrs. old. She had many bouts of Pneumonia over the years due to aspiration. Many families and maybe Terri's team choose to do a feeding tube for convenience sake (Therefore alleviating 4-6 hours of patiently feeding the one in need)and reducing the chances of pneumonia from aspiration.
Our son recently got a feeding tube because he can't drink thin liquids like water without choking and he needed more H20 as he grows than he could possibly take in by mouth with thickened liquids.
I hope you are learning something here.
No longer a steak and potatoes man!!