Court permits elderly woman to be tube fed after being told she is close to death

The elderly woman's case is believed to be the first here of Avoidance and Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. File image

The HSE has secured court orders permitting doctors to tube feed an elderly woman said to be close to death as a result of a very rare food avoidance disorder.

The woman, aged in her seventies, is said to have eaten virtually nothing except tiny amounts of ice-cream for some months and her condition deteriorated to such an extent she was admitted to hospital earlier this month.