The Red Button

A guide to help people living with dementia and their families make good choices near the end of life. The quality of life in the mid and late stages of dementia can be greatly diminished by many factors. The concept of "pain and suffering" during these stages in not well understood and often not acknowledged by family or other caregivers. Yet, when asked, in the early stages of dementia, as part of the process of creating medical directives, many people would choose the option of an...
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A guide to help people living with dementia and their families make good choices near the end of life. The quality of life in the mid and late stages of dementia can be greatly diminished by many factors. The concept of "pain and suffering" during these stages in not well understood and often not acknowledged by family or other caregivers. Yet, when asked, in the early stages of dementia, as part of the process of creating medical directives, many people would choose the option of an assisted death (if available) versus continuing to live in a vegetative state or other condition where mental functioning is extremely limited and family or friends are no longer recognized. The Red Button discusses the options associated with hospice and assisted death for people with dementia and how communications might occur, even in the late stages, that express the degree of pain and suffering to caregivers.