HASTINGS CENTER
255 Elm Road
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510

(914) 762-8500

Organizational overview: Founded in 1969, the Hastings Center is one of the oldest and certainly one of the most respected bioethical organizations in the country.  Its 11,500 members are individuals concerned with medical and professional ethics, including physicians, nurses, lawyers, administrators, academics, and other health-related professionals.  The Hastings Center conducts research and provides consultant services on a wide variety of issues related to ethics. 

Position on tube feeding at the end of life:  Among the most effective and widely used methods of sustaining life are medical procedures for supplying nutrition and hydration by tubes, catheters, or needles inserted into the patient's body. . . . We have concluded that it is wisest and most plausible to understand these methods as medical interventions that may be foregone in some cases.  Therefore, the standards to be used for decisions concerning termination of these procedures are essentially those that apply to the termination of other forms of medical treatment. . . .  In reaching these conclusions, we have recognized that food and water undeniably have symbolic and psychological importance.  They symbolize our caring for and nurturing of one another, and can be a means for the patient to obtain comfort and satisfaction.  In certain circumstances, however, the patient experiences more comfort, caring, and satisfaction from foregoing medical procedures for supplying nutrition and hydration, and instead receiving supportive care to keep him or her comfortable (Hastings Center 1987: 59). 

Citations

Hastings Center.  1987.  Guidelines on the Termination of Life-Sustaining Treatment and Care of the Dying.  Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.: Hastings Center.