6 Questions to Ask When a Loved One Is Diagnosed With Dementia 1. Does my loved one understand that he or she has been diagnosed with dementia?
Legal Issues: Caring for Parents with Dementia 1 Diagnosis of Dementia-Causing Illness or Signs of Dementia. ... 2 Existence of a Written Will. ... 3 Capacity to Make and Execute a Will. ... 4 Fitness to Drive a Car or Perform Other Tasks. ... 5 Help with Daily Living Activities. ... 6 Advance Directives: End-of-Life Preferences. ...
Focus on keeping a calm and gentle voice whenever you’re speaking to your loved one with dementia. Avoid raising your voice, no matter how angry or frustrated either of you becomes during a conversation. As much as you don’t want to talk down to your parent, you will need to change how you speak to them and your tone of voice.
By the time your parent is in need of daily assistance, you should have either a durable power of attorney or guardianship in place. The Alzheimer's Association provides various resources to help those caring for Alzheimer's patients.
By the time your parent is in need of daily assistance, you should have either a durable power of attorney or guardianship in place.
Moreover, it is often the children of dementia-affected adults who end up making decisions on their behalf. But it is important for family members to understand the legal and financial implications of their actions.
If he or she does not have a will and is exhibiting clear signs of dementia, you may want to consider options such as guardianship. The court may not recognize a will signed or executed while the individual is suffering from dementia but the individual's estate will be handled by the state in the absence of a will.
The Alzheimer's Association provides various resources to help those caring for Alzheimer's patients.
The durable power of attorney is not possible if the subject already is mentally incompetent (in which case a legal guardianship, a much more complicated process, is necessary). If you are mentally capable to make your own, you can DIY power of attorney documents.
If the individual in question has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease but is still mentally competent in the eyes of the law, for example, you should consider entering into a durable power of attorney. This allows a trusted individual to make legal, financial, and healthcare-related decisions and sign legal documents on his or her behalf (which will be needed once dementia sets in).
If he or she already has written and signed a will, keep in mind that changes made by someone deemed mentally incompetent may not be held as valid (requiring action by a guardian or someone with a power of attorney).
Senior living options include: An assisted living community. In-home care. Memory care. Long-term care (skilled nursing)
Parkinson’s disease. Thyroid problems. Family members should also ensure that their senior loved one receives the Mini-Mental State Examination — a test that is considered the gold standard in helping to diagnose dementia. 6.
According to Dr. Varano, many times a physician notes a senior patient with memory problems, then jumps too quickly to the assumption that it is possible dementia. “Dementia is a diagnosis of exclusion, so to be fair to the patient and to the caregiver, things have to be excluded.” She adds that other conditions, including side effects of medications, must be ruled out. Some conditions that mimic dementia symptoms may include: 1 Depression 2 Insomnia 3 Low B12 Levels 4 Parkinson’s disease 5 Thyroid problems
According to A Place for Mom’s Alzheimer’s expert, Megan Carnarius, in a recent article, 50% of people with dementia “don’t have any insight” and fail to understand the degree that their cognitive skills are impaired. She says, “A lot of people… mystify their loved ones by trying to force them to understand that they have memory loss instead of just moving on.”
Carnarius shares that family members will also need to get legal paperwork in order, assign a power of attorney for the future and make other important decisions.
Family members should also ensure that their senior loved one receives the Mini-Mental State Examination — a test that is considered the gold standard in helping to diagnose dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is one of several causes of dementia. Dr. Varano explains that “If a physician says, ‘you have dementia,’ it’s the same thing as saying, ‘you have cancer.'”. She says it’s critical to identify exactly which type of dementia it is.
Dementia caregivers: Get these 4 legal documents signed: Advanced Healthcare Directive, Power of Attorney for Financial Matters, Will, and Living Trust.
The only way to rectify a lack of documentation post-incapacity is to seek a conservatorship for your loved one. This requires a Court proceeding. The time and financial cost involved to obtain a conservatorship are significant and can result in critical delays in the meantime — all of which can easily be avoided if your loved one's wishes are documented while they still have the capacity to do so.
A Living Trust, like a Will, is a method by which an individual can designate the distribution of the assets they have at the time of death. Unlike a Will, however, a Living Trust becomes effective as soon as it's executed. This is a very important distinction between the two documents, as it allows for management of the assets held in the Living Trust while the person is still alive, but has become mentally incapacitated to the point they cannot manage their own affairs. Confirmation of incapacity by the person's physician is usually required.
The creator of a Living Trust — in this case, your loved one — is known as the Grantor or the Settlor . The Grantor will designate a Successor Trustee (or series of Successor Trustees) to serve (take charge) when the Grantor/Trustee dies or becomes mentally or physically incapacitated, as described above. Sufficient mental capacity at the time the Living Trust is created is critical to ensure the Living Trust is legally binding, so it is important to create it before mental capacity deteriorates too much.
Please Read This: HIV-Associated Dementia. There are a few legal documents you should be sure to obtain right away. If these documents already exist, ensure they contain the most up-to-date law and, most importantly, clearly express your loved one's current wishes.
When your spouse or other family member exhibits symptoms and is diagnosed with dementia, like Alzheimer's Disease or Vascular Dementia, it is scary and overwhelming. There are so many questions, and the last thing you probably want to worry about is the array of legal issues to consider. Unfortunately, getting your documents prepared and organized is an important and necessary part of the journey, and doing so during the early stages on can make the entire process a little smoother along the way.
It is important to note that a Durable Power of Attorney for Finance ends at the death of the individual for whom it was created. This means your loved one can't give their attorney-in-fact authority to handle financial issues, such as paying debts, making funeral or burial arrangements, transferring their property to heirs, or any other tasks that follow their death. If your loved one wants the attorney-in-fact to have authority to wind down such post-death affairs, a Will or Living Trust (discussed below) is needed.
When you consult with an elder care attorney, you can discuss all of your options and ultimately make an informed decision.
Elder care attorneys help clients come up with answers to long-term care questions. One way that you can prepare for long-term care expenses would be to purchase long-term care insurance. There are some pros and cons that go along with this course of action, and you can discuss them with your attorney.
Long-term care can be provided in different ways. People who need comprehensive care will reside in nursing homes. Those who are capable of maintaining a significant amount of independence often thrive in assisted-living communities. Some people can receive the living assistance that they need in their own homes.
A dementia diagnosis is considered a “diagnosis of exclusion,” meaning it’s based on excluding other possible reasons for memory-related issues. Because there are contributing factors that may have been overlooked during the initial evaluation, it can be helpful to ask for a second opinion or a referral to a specialist, especially if your parent hasn’t yet had the Mini-Mental State Examination—a highly regarded test that often helps with the diagnostic process. Dementia-like symptoms are sometimes related to:
However, the actual answer to this question will depend on when your parent is diagnosed and how far the condition has already progressed. Some seniors with dementia initially understand the diagnosis and become less aware of it later as the condition progresses.
While Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, there are many other types of dementia, some of which are easier to handle than others. For this reason, a good follow-up question to ask is “What type of dementia does my parent have?” Because there’s no single test to diagnose dementia, the answer is often based on symptoms and a review of the various tests and assessments used to make the initial diagnosis.
Use a Calm and Gentle Voice. Focus on keeping a calm and gentle voice whenever you’re speaking to your loved one with dementia. Avoid raising your voice, no matter how angry or frustrated either of you becomes during a conversation. As much as you don’t want to talk down to your parent, you will need to change how you speak to them and your tone ...
If you want to comfort your parent try a gentle touch by holding their hand or giving them a hug. Physical contact can be very important for a person with dementia – depending of course on that particular person.
Be thankful for the good times and conversations that you do have with them. Try to be open to any conversations they’re willing to have and simply enjoy the fact that you are communicating. A dementia diagnosis can be quite frustrating – both for people with dementia and their adult children and family.
When it comes to communication, the belief is that 55% of communication is body language, 38% is the tone of voice, and 7% is the actual words. Even if your loved one with dementia may not entirely understand what you’re saying, they might be able to read your body language and pick up on what’s going on.
It’s natural to get angry, but it’s important to mindfully manage what you do with it. One reason is that people who have dementia are sensitive to your moods. If they feel afraid of you, for instance, that could have a negative impact on the caregiving and care-receiving relationship that is ideally rooted in trust.
“Therapeutic fibbing is lying, or bending the truth, in order to avoid increased agitation from a person with dementia.”. iona.org.
The intention behind the act of lying to someone with dementia is often to avoid upsetting that person with reality which oftentimes causes unnecessary distress.