Abstract
Dementia is a terminal disease, associated with great suffering and difficult decisions in the severe stage. The decision-making process is characterized by uncertainty because of lack of scientific evidence in treatments and by the need to reconcile conflicting points of view. In intercurrent diseases, aggressive interventions are used without consideration of its futility; in comparison with cancer, several consequences of physicians' attitude not to consider dementia as a terminal disease have been reported, especially concerning pain relief. Lack of evidence of artificial nutrition and hydration effectiveness makes advance care planning relevant.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 774-779 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | European Journal of Neurology |
Volume | 17 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2010 |
Keywords
- Artificial nutrition and hydration
- Dementia
- End of life treatments
- Palliative care
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Neurology
- Medicine(all)