Something I don't understand, is actually removing the tube the normal procedure, or a final bit of ugliness by MS? Why did the judge order that, rather than just order that she no longer be given water or nutrients through the tube, simply cap the tube? It is not like they are going to reuse it.
They could cap it. The order was to remove it.
Your instincts are right.
It's more dangerous to keep pulling it and putting it back in.
The judge? Judge Greer?? Why make it easy to start feeding her again. He wants to make sure she has as much time to die as possible.
It's done as a symbol of asserting superior power. It has no functional aspect.
It's symbolic to remove the tube. If it's been in awhile, the hole stays open for weeks...patients pull them out accidentally all the time, and they get clogged and have to be changed monthly.
The REAL question is that if she didn't "want" A TUBE, Why didn't they just start her on a dysphagia rehabilitation program? Most feeding tubes are placed for convenience, because it might take an hour to feed her properly
If she couldn't swallow, she wouldn't swallow saliva either...which is why the average life span on feeding tubes is six months...you die of aspiration pneumonia.So in the elderly with severe strokes or Alzheimer's or parkinson's disease I tell the family it's up to them: The feeding tube won't prolong their life, but they will die more comfortably-- their nutrition is better, so they die fat (well nourished) instead of dying thin with bedsores (bedsores are much more common if malnutrition occurs),...
Most patients I have treated with feeding tubes were for convenience, so they could live at home in retarded kids, or after a stroke. Usually they eat in addition to being tube fed, because they LIKE to eat...the fact that Terri has not had proper rehabilitation speaks loudly that they wanted her dead...and indeed, she was placed in a hospice, which is NOT where one places brain damaged people...
That is a great question!! I guess those who want her to die want to make it harder on her and not leave an "opening" so to speak for restart.
I cannot believe how inhumane this woman is being treated. Normally, one would think the lst thing you would want to do is try to get her to ingest orally therefore not needing a tube, but they are not even allowed to try that!! This is incredible.