You are right, I should have looked that up. Tracheostomy is generally used with ventilators and even then only if it is permanent or there is some type of condition like infection or facial trauma that makes sending the tube through the mouth not worth it. A tracheostomy can damage nerves that control the vocal cords making the patient permanently mute.wserra wrote:I think the courts are likely to say that being fed through a trach tube would be cruel and unusual, even as a death sentence (which it would be, in short order).
Feeding tubes go down the esophagus. Use of a trach tube follows a tracheostomy.
"If all else fails, attach IV to wall suction."
- Code protocol, Transylvania General Hospital.
If I understand it correctly, a somewhat more humane method of forcefeeding, but a method that was still inhumane would be if one was put under general anesthesia, had a feeding tube sent down the esophagus, and finally, intubated and hooked up to a ventilator. My guess is the courts would probably not look kindly upon such an attempt.
"River: The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems." -- Firefly, episode: "Safe"