I have found many articles discussing this study, but I have not been able to find the list of hospitals and their use rate. If any one comes across it, please share!

I thought this discussion of the study was pretty interesting: http://www.aan.com/elibrary/neurologytoday/?event=home.showArticle&id=ovid.com:/bib/ovftdb/00132985-201003180-00012#P30

I like this quote:
As an alternative to feeding-tube placement, Dr. Karlawish said, “My counsel to the family is that if you can, get in there and get by the bedside with a tray of food and a spoon, and give it your best shot to feed them. I myself would enjoy having someone sitting there patiently feeding me, as opposed to having someone rush in and hanging another bottle of enteral feeding solution.”

Absolutely! There is no pleasure or comfort to be had from a tube feeding. None.

Two "comforts" I can think of with tube feeding are that it stops the choking associated with eating/drinking and ends tiring 2-hour meals.

But it doesn't stop aspirational pneumonia. Does it really stop choking? Can't a person unable to swallow choke on his own saliva? I don't know. That is not an argumentative question -- just a request for information.

To me the real shocker in this study was how often the feeding tube was inserted without considering what the patient would want and even against the patient's own written directive.

If the person or the family speaking for the person has religious views that dictate or direct the use of feeding tubes, fine, respect that. If the family feels the patient would be more comfortable with a feeding tube than with prolonged manual feedings, respect that. But for hospitals (or nursing homes, but apparently this generally starts in a hospital) to insert them for their own convenience is very scary to me. This description by one of the doctors in the article I referred to is what I mean: "“There's a keen focus on length of stay and getting the patient back quickly to where he or she came from. In the case of a frail older adult with advanced dementia, coming from a nursing home with trouble swallowing, there would be pressure to say, ‘We have to get her eating, we'll put a feeding tube in so she can leave.’"

I would not be judgmental of a caregiver who makes the decision either to use or to not use a feeding tube. It is a personal decision, made in love.

It does not stop aspiration of saliva. So, there are patches put behind the ear and medications given to dry up the secretions that normally keep your mouth and nasal passages moist. After the insertion you get all your nutriton through a tube, never getting to taste things again and you live with cotton mouth all day, every day. The wife of a friend died 5 years ago after two years in a nursing home because a feeding tube was inserted or they told her she would die. The family let her make the decision and she opted for a tube. It was a tough two years from tube to death. That's when Del said, "I don't ever want a feeding tube." And I agreed that I would never let them do that to him. Nan

Neither would I, Jeanne.

Nor I, in the situation my dad was in. He wouldn't have wanted his torture prolonged any more than the rest of us would want to see his torturous life prolonged. He had a horrible 18 mo. of decline, and that was more than enough for anyone to have to go through. Lynn

This is indeed a personal decision !