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LETTERS: D S Sanders and Karna D Bardhan Feeding tubes in dementia: is there an effective UK strategy? BMJ 2004; 329: 917-b-918-b [Full text]

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Feeding Tubes - Not only whom but when

Arthur Leibovitz   (16 October 2004)

Feeding Tubes - Not only whom but when 16 October 2004
Arthur Leibovitz, Director of Geriatric LTC Ward Shmuel Harofe Hospital Israel Send response to journal: Re: Feeding Tubes - Not only whom but when	The question of whether to provide tube feeding or not is rised again in this issue of BMJ. But nobody seems to consider the question of when is the appropriate time to initiate the tube feeding. In many cases this decision is withold for too much time and tube enteral feeding is started too late!! Directives for feeding are indeed required but we have to agree upon criteria indicating the clinical need of enteral feeding first . All LTC patients with dysphagia are in high risk of undernutrition which is only partialy reflected by present nutritional markers... Competing interests: None declared