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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| End-of-life care of persons with dementia | | Author(s) | Jean-Pierre Michel, Sophie Pautex, Dina Kezry |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 57A, no 10, October 2002 |
| Pages | pp M640-M644 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Terminal care ; Literature reviews ; Switzerland. |
| Annotation | Many clinicians with different training and practice are involved in caring for people with dementia, with geriatricians and palliative care specialists are particularly involved in end-of-life care. To summarise the progress of knowledge in this field, it seems possible to answer four fundamental questions. First, when? Several longitudinal studies of cohorts of demented and non-demented patients show clearly that dementia is a risk factor for early death. Why? Studies on the basis of death certificates appear to be biased. For example, a large autopsy study performed in the geriatric department of Geneva University Hospital showed no differences in immediate causes of death between demented and non-demented hospitalised older patients. How? Given the difficulties of knowing how aware demented patients are of the end of life, their deaths can raise many ethical considerations. For example, how can health professionals help family members and their fear of both death and dementia. And after? The suffering of family members and caregivers has to be considered. This goal includes the improvement of clinicians' communication skills with both patient and family, in helping with their acceptance of death. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-021216221 A |
| Classmark | EA: LV: 64A: 76C |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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