What happens if you remove life support?

Choosing to remove life support usually means that the person will die within hours or days. The timing depends on what treatment is stopped. People tend to stop breathing and die soon after a ventilator shuts off, though some do start breathing again on their own.

How long is death after feeding tube removed?

All interviewees talked about the length of time it took their relative to die (most between 9 and 14 days after withdrawal), and some had been disturbed by changes in the patient’s physical appearance.

Can someone be taken off a feeding tube?

“Some people can last four or five days — some people can last 20 days,” she said. Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed March 18 following a contentious battle between her husband, who said his wife would not want to live in a vegetative state, and her parents, who wanted her kept on life support.

Is it ethical to remove a feeding tube?

It has defined LST as all treatments that have the potential to postpone the patient’s death, and agrees that it is ethical and legally acceptable to withhold or withdraw LST when a mentally competent and properly informed patient refuses LST and/or the treatment is futile.

Who has the right to end life support?

Typically, the person the patient designated as the medical power of attorney gets to decide whether life support should remain active or not. In the event that the patient has not designated medical power of attorney to anyone, the patient’s closest relative or friend receives the responsibility.

Can doctors decide to remove life support?

Patients may thus insist that treatment not be given or be withdrawn, and doctors may be expected to comply. That is, the decision to withhold life support can be at the doctor’s discretion and need neither be declared to nor negotiated with the patient.

What happens when you remove feeding tube?

Once the tube is removed, stomach contents will leak from the stoma and will continue to do so until the tract closes completely. It may take more than two weeks for the feeding tube tract to heal and close, and it will leak during this time.