Heart wrenching story, my heart goes out to the family.
As to the OP, yes the cause of this baby's death was starvation because his body was incapable of processing food, no stone was left unturned to fix the problem but in the end, nothing could be done. While he did starve to death, he did not suffer. He was given morphine the entire time to ease any pain. While it did not hasten or halt his death, it did give the family time to cherish him. As far as I can tell, he did not suffer.
This past year has been shitty for us. Lost my sil 5/20; my aunt (my mom's sister) 5/28; my dad 5/30; my mom fell and broke her hip (snapped the ball from the bone) 6/2 and she died 6/10.
My mom had r/a, congestive heart failure, pulmonary fibrosis. Her c02 levels were 120 (normal is 45, lowest her dropped to on 100% oxygen were 75). She had a directive/living will .. no heroic measures. She had been on oxygen the past 2 1/2 years or so. Due to the circumstances (she fell Sun night, my aunt's funeral was Mon, my dad's funeral was Wed) we talked to the staff and all agreed that using a bi-pap (forced oxygen) was not heroic. She was on morphine the entire time, had swallowing problems and could not eat. Fluids were given via i/v but no feeding tube per her directives. She was in and out of consciousness and, except for Thursday, was completely aware ... but she was fading. We were discussing long-term options (surgery wasn't one of them). She made the decision on Fri night to have the bi-pap taken off (she still was receiving oxygen via tubes in her nose, as she had been). We had a good Friday ... she was awake and knew us all, don't think she remembered about her sister and my dad, we talked, laughed. Last thing my mom said to us was "I love you all, each and every one of you". Man, how many people get to have that? She never woke up again. She faded quickly and died early Monday morning. A feeding tube may have extended her time by ... a few days at best.
My brothers and I watched her for a solid week, as did the staff. She did not suffer. Let me repeat that. She was without food for a week but she did not suffer. Morphine was administered as needed for pain. She did not suffer. Too much would have killed her (yes, she was dying anyway), not enough would have meant awful pain (from her r/a, awful bedsores, broken hip, but as far as I've read, starvation is not painful). She did not suffer. Had we had the option to give her a lethal dose of morphine, would we have? No. Had we done that we never would have had that Friday,never would have heard her last words to us.
Until you are actually in certain situations/circumstances ... it's very, very easy to say what you would or would not do. Having been in a circumstance where a lethal dose of morphine would have brought about the end of my mom's life a few days early I know that I would not be able to do that. Easing any pain and letting nature take it's course is a delicate balancing act, but is what seems most appropriate in these types of situations.
I think this is quite a difficult topic ... don't you? What is considered too much suffering? What if they aren't suffering at all, pain meds are controlling the suffering ... do we kill them because oh well, they're going to be dead in a few days anyway? What if they are in horrific pain and pain meds do nothing to ease their suffering ... do we kill them then? What of the stories where someone was suppose to die, there was no chance ... but they lived? imo, legalizing euthanasia presents a slippery slope with no easy answers.
As far as abortion goes, killing a fetus takes away their choice of ... well, everything.