My aunt did not receive IV fluids nor did she receive any feeding once she became unable to take anything by mouth. The morphine drip was mixed with a small bag of saline.
I do not believe in dehydrating or starving a patient. However, I watched helplessly while my aunt suffered excruciating pain. I prayed that God would, in His infinite mercy, take her to heaven so that she would not have to suffer anymore. That is, unless He would provide a miracle cure.
What good would a feeding tube and IV fluids have done her? It would just have prolonged the extreme agony that she was in.
My grandfather stopped eating the day before he died when he fell unconscious and was about to die. There was no feeding tube as we knew he was about to die at any second. There is no reason for feeding tubes when someone is within hrs of dying. Your Aunt was in that state as well. The difference with your Aunt and my grandfather is that they were dying and about to die. Terri wasn't dying and was only brain damaged. She was deydrated to death. I think feeding tubes should only be denied to someone who is 100% sure going to die very soon.