Under what conditions is withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration ethically permissible?

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Multiple Choice

Under what conditions is withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration ethically permissible?

Respecting a patient’s values and goals guides any decision to withhold or withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration. It is ethically permissible when continuing it would not offer meaningful benefit relative to the burdens imposed, when the care plan aligns with what the patient would want for quality of life, or when the patient cannot speak for themselves and a surrogate determines that stopping or not starting ANH reflects the patient’s known values and prognosis. In practice, this means if a person has a terminal or advanced illness where feeding cannot meaningfully improve life or only adds suffering, and their documented wishes or their surrogate’s substituted judgment indicate comfort-focused care or alignment with those values, withholding or withdrawing ANH is appropriate. The surrogate’s decision should be grounded in the patient’s values and the medical prognosis. This approach balances respect for autonomy with beneficence and non-maleficence, ensuring care decisions reflect what the patient would want, rather than proceeding with treatment that lacks benefit or meaning.

Respecting a patient’s values and goals guides any decision to withhold or withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration. It is ethically permissible when continuing it would not offer meaningful benefit relative to the burdens imposed, when the care plan aligns with what the patient would want for quality of life, or when the patient cannot speak for themselves and a surrogate determines that stopping or not starting ANH reflects the patient’s known values and prognosis. In practice, this means if a person has a terminal or advanced illness where feeding cannot meaningfully improve life or only adds suffering, and their documented wishes or their surrogate’s substituted judgment indicate comfort-focused care or alignment with those values, withholding or withdrawing ANH is appropriate. The surrogate’s decision should be grounded in the patient’s values and the medical prognosis. This approach balances respect for autonomy with beneficence and non-maleficence, ensuring care decisions reflect what the patient would want, rather than proceeding with treatment that lacks benefit or meaning.

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