Capacity issues and decision-making in dementia

Decision-making and dementia.

WHY: Patients have the right to participate in decisions about their care, e.g., diagnostic and treatment interventions, diet, ambulation, daily care, and end-of-life care. Consent to (or refusal of) diagnostic and treatment interventions requires that the patient demonstrate their ability to consider the benefits, burdens and risks of the decision. Whether or not an individual has the capacity...

Assessing decision-making capacity in dementia patients: a semi-structured approach.

One of the consequences of the rapidly increasing numbers of dementia patients in Singapore will be the need for all clinicians (including non-psychiatrists) to be familiar with the fundamentals of how decision-making capacity should be assessed. The clinical settings when the need for such evaluations arise, often involve cognitively or emotionally impaired patients who are required to make tr...

Integrating Contextual Issues in Ethical Decision Making

Decision-making involvement of individuals with dementia.

PURPOSE Research underscores how autonomy and decision-making involvement may help to enhance the quality of life of older adults; however, individuals with dementia are often excluded from decision making that is related to their daily functioning. In this study we use a modified version of the Stress Process Model to consider the stress process of individuals with chronic illness, and in part...

Re: More than Capacity: Alternatives for Sexual Decision Making for Individuals with Dementia.

Sexual expression can be an important aspect of well being for older adults with dementia living in nursing homes. There is a tension in the nursing home, however, between ensuring autonomy of residents for sexual expression and protecting residents from harm. To alleviate this tension, nursing homes can conduct an assessment of residents' capacity for sexual consent. This article argues that a...