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Sure she can probably swallow her own secretions occasionally, but I'm sure the purpose of her tube is because she can't swallow SAFELY. She probably would aspirate everything she put in her mouth which puts her at risk for a deadly pneumonia. After 15 years of not eating, no speech therapist can fix that. She may at times attempt to vocalize but there again, after 15 years no real progress can be expected. And of course if she truely is in a PVS she lacks both the cognitive and linguistic abilities to do either one. Speech therapy (as great as we are!) isn't going to be able to do anything for this woman and her parents need to accept reality.
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