90% of doctors hesitant about tube feeding for elderly with dementia

TOKYO, Feb. 27 Kyodo - Most doctors have hesitated about tube feeding for elderly people in the terminal stage of dementia and nearly half of doctors have given up after starting to doing so, a survey by the Japan Geriatrics Society showed Sunday.
Kaoruko Aita, a University of Tokyo researcher who led the survey, said the results showed that doctors are uncertain about how to proceed, with their desire to help patients coming into conflict with the wishes of families who would like their relatives to die naturally.
In the survey conducted in October and November, 89 percent of the 1,554 respondents said they had felt various levels of hesitation before choosing to provide nutrients and water to elderly people with dementia via gastrointestinal tubes or intravenous drips.
Asked why they had found it hard to decide, 73 percent said it had been unclear whether patients themselves wanted to receive nutrients in such a way, while 56 percent said there had been no consensus among relatives of the patient. The respondents were allowed to submit multiple responses.
According to the survey, 51 percent believed it would be ethically problematic to refrain from tube feeding elderly people in the terminal stage of dementia, while 33 percent said prolonging a patient's life via tube feeding posed an ethical problem.
It also found that 45 percent wavered as there are no guidelines on artificial feeding, while 23 percent feared they could face legal problems.