Ethics and nutrition.

Whilst much has been written on the implications of withholding or withdrawing nutritional support therapy from the terminally ill, the comatose or vegetative patients relatively little has been published on the ethical implications of nutritional therapy in other groups. This article outlines a surgeon's view of ethical issues as they apply to nutrition and concludes that failure to provide nutritional support in one form or another for patients who have or who are expected to have seven days or more of inadequate oral intake should now be considered unethical.