Ethics & Life’s Ending An Exchange Robert D. Orr & Gilbert Meilander Copyright (c) 2004 First Things 145 (August/September 2004): 31-37. Robert D. Orr Feeding tubes make the news periodically, and controversies over their use or non-use seem unusually contentious. But feeding tubes are not high technology treatment; they are simple, small-bore catheters made of soft synthetic material. Nor are they new technology; feeding tubes were first used in 1793 by John Hunter to introduce jellies, eggs, sugar, milk, and wine into the stomachs of patients unable to swallow. Why does this old, low-tech treatment generate such controversy today? The...