Ethics and aging: focus on living will for patients with dementia

Abstract

Today dementia certainly represents a public health priority with a huge global impact on wordwide population. However, clinical and social issues related to dementia have long been marginalized. The actual high prevalence of dementias requires also to face issues from a bioethical perspective, regarding how to deal with demented patient's disposition.There are currently no specific guidelines on the national territory regarding whether to draw up a living will by a patient with dementia, neither about the informative role of physicians during the progressive story of the disease.