Would enteral nutrition be covered for nausea?

• A. Yes
• B. No
• C. Only for severe nausea with vomiting
• D. Only in cancer patients

Answer: (B)

Coverage for enteral nutrition hinges on medical necessity and the ability to meet nutritional needs, not on nausea as a symptom alone. Nausea by itself does not justify enteral feeding because it doesn’t establish an actual or risk of malnutrition or an inability to meet energy/protein requirements. EN is typically considered when a patient has a functional GI tract but cannot maintain adequate intake orally due to ongoing malnutrition risk or documented poor intake, often over a period that necessitates supplemental nutrition.

Treating nausea would first involve strategies like antiemetics and dietary adjustments; enteral feeding would be considered only if those measures don’t suffice and the patient cannot meet nutritional needs orally. The other options imply that coverage depends on the severity of nausea or a cancer diagnosis, which isn’t how coverage is determined—it's about nutritional risk and GI tract capability, not the symptom alone or a specific disease label.