I agree. The argument that people use equating the feeding tube to feeding an infant isn't equivalent.
If you put formula or food in a baby's mouth, the baby will swallow. Terri Schiavo had swallowing tests done showing she could not swallow, so the food had to be conveyed artifically. An analogy would be while air isn't artifical life support, a ventilator to convey that air to the lungs is. Ditto an IV to convey water to the veins.
Thank you. Great comparisons.
Source? So, how do you account for Terri not drooling, if she couldn't swallow? I'd read (tho it would take some digging) that it was easier to put a tube in her than to feed her.
But is food, water, or air ordinary care or extraordinary care? I consider them to be ordinary care, no matter the delivery.
Terri was able to swallow. Nurses and care givers testified to that fact. Also there is such a thing called SWALLOW THERAPY. It teaches a person to learn to swallow again, if they can't. Schiavo stopped all therapy, including swallow therapy.
One of my relatives had therapy like that and re-learned to eat. She was worse off than Terri but was allowed to improve dramatically. Doctors do not know all there is to know about the brain and the body. They are not gods. The diagnosis of PVS is abused in many cases. The use of the word vegetable to describe a human being is an outrage and is used to de-humanize the person, imo. Studies have proven the diagnosis of PVS is wrongly used over 40 percent of the time.