What rights does a daughter have over the decision to remove her father's feeding tube?
If a patient was being fed with a nasal tube..and it was taken out and a decision was made by his wife not to feed him by using any means..how long will he have before he becomes terminal or dies. He had no living will but has a biological daughther, does she have any rights to despute this decision. The wife does not to pay for nursing home care and his vitals has been great..he did have surgery for an cerebral hemmorhage, but is not in a coma and recognizes family and squeezes our hands to our responses.
Expert Answer
The doctors attending the patient who have a better picture of his complete health history are in a better position to give an informed guess at how and how soon the end of his life will progress. But no one can know this for sure. And those in the room"”especially family members who are often stressed over dealing with such a difficult situation"”often disagree about the type of care that should be given.
Since the patient had no living will, the doctors usually take guidance about medical decisions from his closest relative, which they will consider to be his wife in most cases.
If the daughter disagrees with the type of care he is getting and she and his wife cannot work out their differences, the daughter could talk over her concerns with the hospital ombudsman or patient representative.