Chicago, Illinois Nursing Homes Should Make Sure to Insert Feeding Tubes Only If They Are Benefiting (and Not Hurting) Advanced Dementia Patients
According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it is the larger, for-profit facilities and those that utilized intensive care the most during a dementia patient’s final six months that are the places most likely to insert feeding tubes. Dr. Joan Teno says that based on surveys taken by nursing home residents and dementia patients’ families, most people suffering from this mental illness would prefer dying over using a feeding tube.
Yet, earlier research shows that over 1/3rd of US nursing home patients suffering from end-stage dementia use feeding tubes. Even though evidence shows that feeding tubes don’t alleviate bedsores, allow for a longer life, or solve other issues, about 2/3rds of the tubes were inserted while the patients were in acute-care hospitalization.
Teno noted that because there are two financing systems for nursing home patients—Medicare, which pays for acute care, and Medicaid, which covers custodial care—nursing homes are more likely to send residents to hospitals where someone else will cover the bills. All of these transfers can cause a dementia patient to engage in disruptive behavior, develop bedsores, and/or suffer from eating problems, which then leads to the insertion of a feeding tube.
Feeding tubes are usually inserted through the stomach. According to Dr. Elizabeth Sampson, the lead author of another study, feeding tubes can actually increase morbidity and mortality while lowering the quality of life. Dr. Stephen Post, who is also a professor of preventive medicine at Stony Brook University, says that feeding tubes may even cause a person with advanced dementia to suffer because a patient who is near death will often have a gastrointestinal system that has shut down.
Nursing homes must make sure that the medical and nursing care that they provide each resident will help more than hurt them. If you believe that negligent nursing care contributed to your loved one’s injury, pain and suffering, deteriorating health, or death, do not hesitate to contact our Chicago, Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse law firm.
Too Many With End-Stage Dementia Get Feeding Tubes, BusinessWeek, February 9, 2010
Do Feeding Tubes Help Or Harm In Advanced Dementia?, Science Daily, April 20, 2009
Related Web Resources:
NINDS Dementia Information Page
Illinois Nursing Home Care Act
Journal of the American Medical Association
US Department of Health and Human Services
