Joseph Bertino, PhD
Director of Ethics at UPMC PUH/SHY/WPH
Abstract: Dysphagia refers to difficulty in swallowing, which can lead to food or liquid entering the airway instead of the esophagus, potentially resulting in aspiration pneumonia and other serious complications. Patients with dysphagia are often issued NPO (nothing by mouth) orders or have other mechanical means of nutritional support. Many patients still request to eat by mouth. Addressing their quest involves ascertaining whether and how they understand their clinical situation, balancing bioethical principles, and sometimes accommodating surrogate decision-maker’s requests and decision-making authority. Eating and providing nourishment to others have socio-relational, religious, and emotional meaning; these actions can demonstrate care or love to an individual or memorialize periods of health during the patient’s life. [The May 2023 Healthcare and Religion Lecture by Paula Leslie, PhD, Transference of Grace and the Unassuming Swallow, explored the interplay of eating, drinking, and swallowing with religious beliefs and practices, and how this might play out in conditions such as dementia.] In this ECHO session, participants will examine requests for oral nutrition by patients with dysphagia, identify the ethical concepts associated with these requests, and develop skills to approach these situations in a clinical ethics context.
Sponsored by the WV Rural Emergency Trauma Institute (RETI)
Location and Address
Online