Psychiatric patients who refuse nourishment.
Recently publicized court cases focused attention on two individuals who wished to be permitted to starve themselves to death in health care facilities. These cases constitute one variation of a more common event arising in medical practice: the patient's refusal to take nourishment voluntarily. The authors discuss medical, ethical, and legal considerations relevant to such refusals and analyze two clinical examples of patients who refused nourishment. The authors suggest that physicians restrict coercive feeding to individuals who are incompetent or suffering from serious mental disorders and adamantly refuse nourishment, as for these individuals the benefits of involuntary nourishment outweigh its risks.
Dresser
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RS
Boisaubin
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EV
D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology; D026686:Beneficence; D003657:Decision Making; D004750:Enteral Nutrition; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D010289:Parenteral Nutrition, Total; D010344:Patient Advocacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010349:Patient Compliance; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D014481:United States