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Tyler Savage: he is fed through a tube in his stomach A boy of 12 suffers from so many allergies that he is able to eat only five foods. Tyler Savage is violently ill every time he is given dishes containing dairy products or wheat, gluten, eggs, lactose and soya. The sole foods he is allowed are chicken, carrots, grapes, potatoes and apples. To help him survive, minerals and vitamins are pumped directly into his stomach through a tube. Tyler started to fall ill at the age of six when even a morsel of food would leave him writhing...

Celebrity chef Todd English could soon serve his last foie gras in Massachusetts. Following California's example, a group of state legislators aim to ban the sale and production of the culinary delicacy created by force-feeding ducks or geese so their livers swell and become, literally translated, ``fatty liver.'' "Inflicting pain on any animal is morally reprehensible. There is no excuse for this type of behavior,'' said state Sen. Sue Fargo, the bill's sponsor. She said a feeding tube is inserted down a goose's throat so workers can shove ``the human equivalent of 11 pounds of food into its stomach'' daily...

Volunteers work to free dolphins. Florida, USA Dozens of volunteers toiled through a chilly night Thursday to tend to the 60 dolphins remaining from a group that stranded off the Middle Keys, using small boats to ferry some to a makeshift pen that has become the marine mammal equivalent of a triage ward. By afternoon, six dolphins had died and 14 were still in painstaking transit, as U.S. Coast Guard personnel, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers and others helped move the listless animals one by one from offshore flats to safety. Volunteers in wet suits used feeding...

First, this case has boiled down to Michael Schiavo's testimony that it was Terri Schiavo's wish not to be put on life-prolonging technologies, including feeding tubes. He and his attorney said Terri made it clear years ago that she would not want to live in such a condition -- even though she never made a living will. They said she once made the comment to her best friend after seeing a movie in which a character was in such a state. "She said, 'No tubes for me,' " Michael Schiavo said. Her feeding tube was inserted on February 25, 1990....

<p>Pope John Paul II has stunned Catholic health care providers, ethicists and theologians by announcing emphatically that it is "morally obligatory" to continue artificial feeding and hydration for people in a persistent vegetative state, even if they remain so for years. His comments could require revision in directives on end-of-life care at one in 10 U.S. hospitals. And they may prompt confusion over the validity of advance directives people have drawn up that say they do not want "extraordinary" treatments to prolong their life under specified circumstances.</p>

Is removing a feeding tube from someone in a vegetative state 'immoral'? Yes, starvation is a barbaric way to kill someone Yes, there is always the chance somone will recover Yes, recover or not, this a fellow human being made in God's image Yes, but I would not want to be kept alive in that state It all depends on the medical circumstances No, as long as pain medication is given to prevent suffering No, it's a rational response to the patient's prognosis and the cost of care No, each of us has to determine what is moral or immoral...

Michael Arnold Glueck and Robert J. Cihak Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003 Readers Speak Out With Life-and-Death Comments: THANK YOU! Today it is our turn to thank YOU, the readers, for the scintillating thoughts and comments in response to last week's column, "Death by Dehydration." We were somewhat overwhelmed by our e-mail – and even more stunned that almost 100 percent of you basically agreed with our comments. We were prepared for some less-than-kind responses. Many readers thought we were too kind to Terri's husband. They opined that her husband's actions reflected a desire to keep the malpractice settlement money for...