Father is in Hospice

[whichwaytogo47]

So my dad has difficulty swallowing and it looks like the options are puree and using a G-Tube. I don’t know if as a Catholic, I am required to use a gastro-Tube or if that’s perceived as prolonging suffering and an extraordinary means of keeping someone alive. I didn’t know what the Catholic stance was and what was perceived as starving someone and what was seen as extraordinary care.

My dad is in hospice and is 68. He had a reaction to anaesthesia since he had broken his hip. I am having a priest sent over since he was an agnostic. He had fallen away from the church as a young adult, but had mental illness all his life. He was a great father.

I am very blessed to have had the time with him. I hope to be able to say good by. If I leave tomorrow, I will be able to see him Friday morning. I have to call around to see if I can visit, due to this Corona paranoia that’s going thru the country. With our luck, my dad will be listed as a COVID death. He recovered from COVID-19 over 3 weeks ago so this would definitely be inaccurate.

 

[Lucy_1]

I can’t answer your question, but I said a prayer for you and your dad. This is very difficult. I’m so sorry.

 

[whichwaytogo47]

Thanks so much! That means a lot.

 

[edward_george1]

Know of my prayers for your father and this situation. I am a Bioethicist by training, so if you’d like to send me a private message, I can help you determine what you would need to do.

-Fr ACEGC

 

[PaulinVA]

An NG tube, going through the nose to the stomach, is not considered extraordinary means. I suppose an implanted G tube is similar.

However, for people in hospice, even this becomes intolerable at a certain point. Frequently, people near death stop eating. Pumping food or even liquid becomes a problem as it’s not well tolerated. However, until it does, nutrition and hydration are normal means.

 

[edward_george1]

This isn’t necessarily the case. Ordinary and Extraordinary means is something that is conditioned to the circumstances, and there are times that an NG tube would be ordinary means, and times when it would be extraordinary.

 

[whichwaytogo47]

Thanks for the replies. Yes my father would not be able to understand the need for a G Tube.

I do appreciate the replies.

 

[PaulinVA]

This isn’t necessarily the case. Ordinary and Extraordinary means is something that is conditioned to the circumstances, and there are times that an NG tube would be ordinary means, and times when it would be extraordinary.

I tried to handle that distinction by talking about whether the nutrition/hydration is well tolerated.

True, sometimes the placement of the tube is overly burdensome and is considered extraordinary.

 

[KyPerson]

My mother made it quite clear that she did not want any kind of tube feeding if it came to that. She said, IV for hydration was all right, but she did not want to be kept alive by artificial means. Luckily, it did not come to that - she had a stroke and died.
I really can’t speak to your situation. Is there a possibility your father may recover? My brother’s mother in law had difficulty swallowing after some strokes and was tube fed for a time and then was able to swallow pureed foods. She lived for three years and died last week from another stroke. I will pray for you and your father. It’s hard I know to see a parent suffer.