https://buffalonews.com/2020/05/15/d...er-not-eating/

I was extremely pleased the Buffalo News published this second report after being misled by the first report by a daughter who should have known better, but instead erroneously charged the nursing facility with starving her mother to death.

I was in the same situation with a 99- year-old mother whose wishes I followed as her proxy; and before dementia set in.

Nursing facilities are taking enough hits during the Covid-19 spread. This claim is unwarranted and pretty upsetting to me and nursing home caretakers as well.

Lancaster’s Harris Hill facility is experiencing a high death rate, I never visited that facility. I am well acquainted with the Elderwood at Lancaster facility – volunteering there for 9 years. I visited clients numerous times at the Lancaster Greenfields facility and can attest that Lancaster is lucky to have two reputable facilities in the heart of Lancaster.

It bothers me till this day how many families make extraordinary, selfish poor decisions to keep a loved one alive who are in their final stages of life - exhibiting no mental cognizance or quality of life.

The report very well expresses what I likewise experienced.

The East Aurora nursing home where a 92-year-old dementia patient died in March acted properly in her mother's dying days, said a second relative who served as the woman's health care proxy.

“Dori’s point is that they starved her, and I do not agree. I know they offered her food. I believe they encouraged her to eat. But I asked them not to force feed her,” Bond said.

Czora, a nurse who has worked in long-term care for 29 years, said the natural progression of a patient experiencing advanced dementia is a refusal to eat.

“Dementia and Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that at the end stage results in a lack of appetite. It is universally accepted as understood, and not starvation. The body doesn’t feel hunger.

“Patients that are starting to move toward this are repulsed by food. Oftentimes families feel guilt over this, but it is important to note that it is not a sign of depression or suicide, it is a part of the terminal progression of the disease,” Czora said.

Bond told The News her mother did not die because she stopped eating, but rather she stopped eating because she was dying.