AMERICAN  NURSES ASSOCIATION (ANA)
600 Maryland Ave. SW; Suite 100 W
Washington, DC 20024-2571

(202) 554-4444

Organizational overview:  Founded in 1896, the American Nurses Association currently represents 2.3 million registered nurses, nationwide, and publishes the periodical The American Nurse.  The ANA's Task Force on the Nurse's Role in End-of-Life Decisions issued the Compendium of Position Statements on the Nurse's Role in End-of-Life Decisions in 1992, and added two new position statements, one on assisted suicide and one on active euthanasia, in 1994.

Position on tube feeding at the end of life

Artificial nutrition and hydration should be distinguished from the provision of food and water. . . . the provision of nourishment and hydration by artificial means (i.e., though tubes inserted into the stomach, intestines, or blood vessels) is qualitatively different from merely assisting with feeding.  Like all other interventions, artificially provided hydration and  nutrition may or may not be justified. . . . As in all other interventions, the anticipated benefits must outweigh the anticipated burdens for the intervention to be justified. . . . In cases where a patient is unable to make his wishes known, or is unable to evaluate the benefits and harms of refusing artificial nutrition and hydration, the decision of a surrogate should be relied upon" (ANA 1992: 9). 

Citations

American Nurses' Association (ANA). 1989.  "Guidelines on Withdrawing or Withholding Food and Fluid."  In Biolaw.  Vol. 2, pp. 12-16. Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America.

 _____. 1992. Compendium of Position Statements on the Nurse's Role in End-of-Life Decisions. Washington: American Nurses Publishing.