| 释义 |
artificial nutrition and hydration
The use of invasive feeding tubes or injections to keep a patient alive. In medical ethics there is much debate over when such treatment may be withheld or withdrawn from patients who have no prospect of recovery, especially in the case of patients who are unable to communicate their wishes. When other intensive treatments are judged futile, artificial nutrition and hydration become what are known as extraordinary means of prolonging life. Legally, it is permissible to withdraw such treatment when it is no longer in the patient’s interests and when the intention is not to kill the patient, even though this must be the inevitable result (see doctrine of double effect). In cases of patients in a persistent vegetative state, the matter must be referred to the courts. |