WET DEATH VS DRY DEATH

One of the things I teach about the feeding tube is that when we die, there's the wet death and the dry death. In our natural process of dying, we want to be as “dry” as possible. It’s natural. The body quits eating and quits drinking naturally. This allows us to have a very comfortable death, a calm death. 

 

When we have a feeding tube involved, it can be problematic. The body is constantly being fed, and it remains very wet. Eventually the body stops processing all that food. They may start having diarrhea, vomiting, and when turned, all that fluid comes out of the mouth and nose. I will be very frank with our patients and our families about that – it becomes a very uncomfortable and very difficult situation.

 

Diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting are big signs that we've got to stop the feeds. And we hope we have enough time to drive the food and liquids out of the body.

 

As I educate people, I often use the sponge analogy. When you think of a wet kitchen sponge that can’t hold any more water – our body is like that. When we're at our end of life journey, trying to keep feeding us can cause more harm than good. 

 

When a body's preparing to die, it's perfectly natural that eating should stop. Gradually, the appetite declines and it goes away. We can offer food. I’m a proponent of giving patients what they want to eat and drink. But they need to decide. They’re the bus driver. 

 

Families really struggle with this. It’s love. They’re trying to show their love.

 

But food isn’t what their loved one needs right now. A different energy is needed. A spiritual energy, not physical energy.