Families need to know when dementia becomes terminal

A new nursing home study is prompting discussion about the terminal nature of dementia, and some experts say that doctors need to be more honest with caregivers about the benefits of medical intervention. The report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that patients often do not get appropriate end-of-life care because many do not see dementia as a terminal disease. This means families and doctors alike can request drastic medical intervention such as feeding tubes, when the measure is unlikely to improve the patient's quality of life. The study's authors say that families need to be told when the disease is terminal, and that patients should have access to hospice and quality end-of-life care in the same way that cancer and other terminal patients do.