I flinch every time I hear the phrase "starved to death" in reference to the Schiavo case, or any other case involving the withholding or removal of feeding tubes, because it just isn't accurate. The use of the emotionally loaded term creates an image in the mind of someone dying an excruciatingly painful death. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When feeding tubes are withheld or withdrawn, the death is actually very gentle and peaceful, which is why end of life care advocates and supporters of the right to die with dignity (which, according to the latest ABC News poll was 87% of the 1,000+ people polled) are so opposed to what is being done to Terri Schiavo by her Right to Life activist parents.

Here is an article from ABC News that explains exactly what happens physically to a person when a feeding tube is removed, or when the death process is occurring naturally (ie the person is refusing to eat and drink). I hope it helps those of you who are so confused about what the removal of the feeding tube will actually do to Terri Schiavo.

I'll provide some of the highlights of the article here, as the link won't be good for long:

"The process of starving to death seems very barbaric but in actuality is very peaceful," said Dr. Fred Mirarchi, assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.

"The patient's experience is really pretty benign," said Dr. Joanne Lynn, a hospice physician associated with Americans for Better Care of the Dying, a group working for improved end-of-life care. "Overwhelmingly, what will happen is nothing."

Lynn, who has worked with numerous families facing end-of-life situations, said most patients who are removed from life support will die within a matter of a few days or weeks.

"Some people can last four or five days — some people can last 20 days," she said...

The Body Begins Shutting Down

The physical process of dying after life support is removed follows a pattern familiar to hospice workers. And the fact that Schiavo is in a vegetative state will likely make her death faster and less painful, Lynn said.

"It depends on whether she has the ability to swallow anything — and if that anything is offered," she said. "If she's unable to swallow anything, the course toward dying, so far as anyone can tell, is fairly comfortable."

Most patients who cannot eat or drink will enter a physical state known as ketosis. During ketosis the body begins to use fat and muscle as a fuel source.

In advanced cases of ketosis, the nervous system response is dulled, and patients rarely feel pain, hunger or thirst. There is also some evidence that ketosis can produce a state of well-being or mild euphoria.

Family members and friends are often surprised to find that a terminal patient's eyes will open and they will appear to glance around the room. "It's very confusing on an emotional level," said Lynn.

But Lynn explained that the part of the brain-controlling eye movement is actually very primitive and can remain active even after other parts of the brain appear to have stopped functioning.

Patients are also likely to experience irregular breathing.

"Cyclical breathing is very typical," Lynn said, adding that in some cases the patient will breathe very rapidly, then take just one or two breaths per minute.

Over time, the patient will become more and more dehydrated and will eventually develop kidney failure, Mirarchi explained.

"Patients at this point are uremic — filled with bodily toxins — and are unaware of their surroundings," Mirarchi said. "They develop electrolyte imbalances that eventually cause an abnormal beating of the heart."

In the final moments of life, the abnormalities in the patient's heart rate known as arrhythmia are common.

"The heart will then stop and the patient will die," said Mirarchi.

The efforts of caregivers may in some cases complicate the death of the patient. Giving a patient water, for example, may prolong the process.

"Going without water makes it more gentle," Lynn said. "Allowing chemicals [in the blood] to cause arrhythmia is more merciful."

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Perhaps the greatest ironies of all this, is that Terri Schiavo's body had already begun this process 15 years ago, but it was stopped by medical intervention in an attempt to save her life. However, the intervention couldn't reverse the effects of the death process in her case, hence her permanent vegetative state.

Another irony that hasn't escaped me is the woman's initial heart attack is believed to have been caused by an eating disorder, and now this whole fiasco has resulted in her being force fed because of her parent's wishes.

Sad and pathetic doesn't even begin to cover the scope of this woman's tragic life and artificially prolonged death.