Key issues in the ethics of dementia care

The future of dementia care requires physicians to practice the art of medicine with a professional attentiveness to ethical issues. In order to "profess" the good of patients, physicians must be willing to make recommendations consistent with empirical findings regarding burdens and benefits. These recommendations have the benefit of relieving family members of the misplaced guilt that too often accompanies their reasonable insight that death is not the enemy. Physicians, clergy, and voluntary associations such as the Alzheimer's Association all have vital roles in forming a clinical environment that supports this insight.