When a feeding tube or ventilator is removed from terminally ill or severely brain-damaged patients, their deaths are not painful, physicians say.

“We believe, that if done properly, even patients who have a lot of cognition will suffer very little,” said Dr. Richard Sosinski, medical director of Hospice Care in Douglas County and board member of the Lawrence Memorial Hospital palliative care team.

In the case of removing a ventilator, it is done in a step-by-step manner, Sosinski said.

“Morphine and other opiate medications are very good at suppressing that pain you get from holding your breath for a long time,” he said.

Opiates also are used to ease pain for someone whose feeding and hydration tube is removed, Sosinski said. Also, when someone is very ill, the removal of fluids causes certain chemical reactions in the body that make a person less aware of how he feels.

“If you are brain dead, you are not going to feel anything anyway,” he said.

The length of time it takes a person to die once he is removed from life-support systems depends on his physical condition. Even a very ill person could take two weeks to die, but generally death comes in two or three days, Sosinski said.

“I really think it is important for people to realize withholding food and hydration from people who are ill is not seen … to be a suffering kind of death,” he said. “I think there is a misperception there. They are not feeling what we feel when we are fasting.”

If patient lacks a living will, who should make the decision whether to remove that patient from life support? The patient’s spouse The patient’s family The patient’s physician The state government The federal government The judicial system See the results without voting » Note: This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

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