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Dementia patients often suffer unnecessary medical interventions because health care workers and family members do not realize they are close to the end of their life. What most people do not understand is that dementia is fatal.
Recently, a dementia sufferer in her mid-nineties was admitted to the hospital by her family when they suspected she had had a stroke. Although the doctors did find a mild infection and signs of dementia, they found no evidence of a stroke. In reality, she is nearing the end of her life and is in need of palliative care rather than costly and painful medical intervention.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine discusses the need for health care providers to recognize end of life issues as opposed to medical-related conditions. Knowing the difference can prevent further unnecessary suffering by someone who is nearing the end of their life.
The most common complications for those in their final months are pneumonia, fever, and lack of appetite. Those very symptoms can cause someone to be admitted to the hospital for aggressive treatment to keep them alive, when they may actually need family members and caregivers to provide loving support as they face the end of their life.
Unfortunately, those who have dementia are unable to communicate their wishes, or even understand what is going on with their health. Family members are unaware that their loved one needs comfort care.
When my mother was in a nursing home with advanced TIA dementia, we had no idea she was as close to the end of her life as she was. I visited her the afternoon before her death, and she was struggling with a painful headache. The nurse said Mom had not eaten very much in the last couple of days, and had been sleeping quite a bit.
It was still a shock to the family, however, when she died of a stroke early the next morning. We didn’t recognize the symptoms that she was so close to dying. We felt like we had not had the chance to say goodbye and as much time as we would have liked during her last days.
Family members who understand where their loved one is as far as end of life, are more apt not to insist on medical intervention. They understand the situation and allow their loved one to die with dignity rather than be forced to undergo unnecessary and painful procedures.
Hopefully, this study will enlighten people as to what dementia patients need during their final months. Both medical health workers and family members need to have an increased awareness of the situation, and understanding the dementia is a fatal disease, and the options they have before them so that their loved one has the best care possible in their time of need. Sometimes that “best care” does not include hospital stays, but the quiet comfort of palliative care from health care workers and loving family members.
