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- Title
Should Dementia Be Accepted as a Disability to Help Restore Hope during Cognitive Decline?
- Authors
Robbins, Nathaniel M.; Bernat, James L.
- Abstract
Dementia is a common condition that impacts the patient, the family, and society. Currently, a diagnosis of dementia evokes hopelessness in the afflicted, and society provides few resources or systematic support for caregivers or for demented patients. In this commentary, we discuss the origins of hopelessness in dementia, the World Health Organization’s six-stage framework of dementia care, and barriers to “normalizing” the experience of dementia in order to provide beneficent and humane care for patients with dementia. We also offer recommendations for clinicians who care for patients who feel that a life with dementia is not worth living.
- Subjects
TREATMENT of dementia; COGNITION disorders; DEMENTIA; DESPAIR; HOPE; MEDICAL care; PATIENTS; PEOPLE with disabilities; SUICIDAL ideation; GERIATRIC Depression Scale; DISEASE complications
- Publication
AMA Journal of Ethics, 2017, Vol 19, Issue 7, p649
- ISSN
2376-6980
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.7.ecas2-1707