Key issues in the ethics of dementia care

A comprehensive discussion of the ethics of caring for persons with the syndrome of dementia must be attentive to key issues that arise during the course of the underlying causative disease, which is most likely to be Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This analysis therefore focuses on the progressive course of AD, although what is discussed pertains to dementia generally Ethical issues beginning with prevention and diagnosis and concluding with a good dying are considered. A chronologically ordered discussion of these issues over the course of AD provides a practically useful framework.