Description
Book SynopsisPractical, essential advice about making tough decisions for people with end-stage dementia. Each year, more than 500,000 people are diagnosed with dementia in the United States. As stunning as that figure is, countless family members and caregivers are also affected by each diagnosis. Families are faced with the need to make vital end-of-life decisions about medical treatment, legal and financial matters, and living situations for those who no longer can; no one is prepared for this process. And many caregivers grapple with sadness, confusion, guilt, anger, and physical and mental exhaustion as dementia enters its final stage. In Making Tough Decisions about End-of-Life Care in Dementia, Dr. Anne Kenny, a skilled palliative care physician, describes how to navigate the difficult journey of late-stage dementia with sensitivity, compassion, and common sense. Combining her personal experience caring for a mother with dementia with her medical expertise in both dementia and end-of-life
Trade ReviewThe text is enriched with stories of Kenny's own family (her mother died of dementia) and from numerous other patients and families, which brings what she has to say to life. She does not pull any punches about dying and death and all the problems they bring, but she does so in a kind and caring way . . . I think this book will be very helpful to many people . . . If your work in palliative care involves significant numbers of patients with dementia, this book will give you plenty to reflect on.
—Dr. Roger Woodruff,
International Association for Hospice & Pallatative CareTable of ContentsPreface
Introduction
1. Understanding the End and the Need for Letting Go
2. Preparing to Let Go: Emotions of Caring
3. Making Decisions for Others
4. Legal Aspects of Decisions
5. Complex Medical Decisions
6. Decisions About Places of Care
7. Changing Care Needs in the End of Life
8. Changing Needs for the Caregiver/Partner at the End of Life
9. Active Dying
10. Afterloss and Adjustment
