Dementia and Aging: Ethics, Values, and Policy Choices

by Robert H. Binstock PhD (Editor), Stephen G. Post PhD (Editor), Peter J. Whitehouse MD PhD (Editor)

Overview

Several million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementing disorder. For families, professional caregivers, policy makers, and the patients themselves, the challenges are immense and the economic costs are staggering. In Dementia and Aging Robert H. Binstock, Stephen G. Post, and Peter J. Whitehouse bring together experts in gerontology, geriatrics, psychiatry, neurology, nursing, ethics, philosophy, public policy, and law to examine the ethical, moral, and policy controversies surrounding dementia.

The authors first present background information on dementia and related ethical and policy issues. The remainder of the book is divided into three parts. Part One conveys the difficulties experienced by dementia patients and their caregivers. Part Two deals with ethical and moral issues involved in decisions regarding treatment and care, including the highly controversial subject of euthanasia. Part Three lays out societal choices regarding the allocation of resources for treatment, care, and research on dementia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801845451
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	09/01/1992
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert H. Binstock (1935–2011) was, at the time of his death, a professor of aging, health, and society at Case Western Reserve University, where he taught in the public health program and also in the departments of medicine, epidemiology and biostatistics, bioethics, and in the School of Nursing and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Stephen G. Post is the director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. He is the author of The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer Disease: Ethical Issues from Diagnosis to Dying.

Peter J. Whitehouse, MD, PhD, is a professor of neurology at Case Western Reserve University and the cofounder of the Intergenerational Schools. Together, they are the coauthors of The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told about Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
List of Contributors
Chapter 1. The Challenges of Dementia
Part I: Biomedical, Experiential, and Caregiving Perspectives
Chapter 2. Dementia: The Medical Perspective
Chapter 3. The Experience of Being Demented
Chapter 4. Seeing and Knowing Dementia
Chapter 5. Human Dignity, Dementia, and the Moral Basis of Caregiving
Part II: Treatment Decisions, Advance Directives, and Euthanasia
Chapter 6. Autonomy Revisited: The Limits of Anticipatory Choices
Chapter 7. A Critical View of Ethical Dilemmas in Dementia
Chapter 8. Mercy Killing of Elderly People with Dementia: A Counterproposal
Chapter 9. Euthanasia in Alzheimer's Disease?
Part III: Caring For People With Dementia: Justice and Public Policy
Chapter 10. Dementia and Appropriate Care: Allocating Scarce Resources
Chapter 11. The Politics of Developing Appropriate Care for Dementia
Chapter 12. Alzheimer's Disease: Current Policy Initiatives
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

As we progress toward the twentieth century, we do so knowing that the growing elderly population will pose new challenges and obstacles for aging-related professions. Dementia and Aging provides experts within the medical, social, and legal professions, as well as caregivers, with thought-provoking and useful information.
—Edward F. Truschke, President , Alzheimer's Association

Edward F. Truschke

As we progress toward the twentieth century, we do so knowing that the growing elderly population will pose new challenges and obstacles for aging-related professions. Dementia and Aging provides experts within the medical, social, and legal professions, as well as caregivers, with thought-provoking and useful information.

Editorial Reviews

Dementia and Aging will become a standard introduction to what Lewis Thomas called 'the disease of the century' . . . Gerontologists will benefit from reading [this] collection [dealing] with a multifaceted problem from diverse perspectives.
—Gerontologist

The diversity of thought and opinions represented in this book is its major strength. the contributing authors are..acknowledged experts in their respective fields; the chapters are well written and edited. Each section provides insights into an important aspect of Alzheimer disease.. Opposing views on euthanasia and alternative proposals for health care reform are fairly presented. the reader is left with a better understanding of the complex and evolving nature of decision-making required in the care of patients with Alzheimer disease.
—Annals of Internal Medicine

From the Publisher

"The diversity of thought and opinions represented in this book is its major strength. the contributing authors are..acknowledged experts in their respective fields; the chapters are well written and edited. Each section provides insights into an important aspect of Alzheimer disease.. Opposing views on euthanasia and alternative proposals for health care reform are fairly presented. the reader is left with a better understanding of the complex and evolving nature of decision-making required in the care of patients with Alzheimer disease."

Annals of Internal Medicine

" Dementia and Aging will become a standard introduction to what Lewis Thomas called 'the disease of the century'... Gerontologists will benefit from reading [this] collection [dealing] with a multifaceted problem from diverse perspectives."

Gerontologist