Feeding versus Artificial Nutrition and Hydration: At the Boundaries of Medical Intervention and Social Interaction

Abstract

This article examines the concept of medical feeding that has emerged in the United States. Artificial nutrition and hydration emphasizes artificiality and medical technology. By contrast, the daily actions of eating and feeding have complex social, cultural, and historical meanings that are often strongly gendered. Currently, there is a disjuncture between biomedical and broader social understandings of feeding, which often leads to conflict in clinical situations. We suggest relational autonomy as a means to negotiate between the prevailing biomedical view and a more expansive consideration of food and feeding within the complex cultural, gendered, and power-laden realities of social relationships.