According to Winter (2000), “Nutrition and hydration have long been considered to be life-sustaining therapies that are associated with comfort and relief of suffering. This belief is largely based
on our own experiences with the sensations of thirst and hunger’ (p. 723). There are moral and ethical considerations on withholding nutritional support. As one who seeks a career in the healthcare
industry, what are your thoughts on this issue? Would you regard fluid and nutritional support for terminally ill patients as extraordinary interventions or as meeting an individual’s basic
physiologic needs?