Facing a Difficult Choice: Death with Dignity and Dementia

Death with dignity, also known as medical aid in dying, offers terminally ill individuals the right to control their end-of-life decisions. But what happens when dementia enters the equation? This episode tackles the complex ethical and legal challenges surrounding death with dignity for individuals with dementia.

We’ll explore:

• The challenges of cognitive decline: How does dementia impact a person’s ability to make informed decisions about their own care?
• Advance directives: A voice for the future: Can these documents truly reflect a person’s wishes in the later stages of dementia?
• Balancing autonomy and compassion: How do we navigate the ethical considerations of respecting a patient’s choices while ensuring a humane and dignified death?

Discover practical strategies to facilitate open communication with loved ones about end-of-life wishes. Join us as we delve into the medical, legal, and ethical complexities surrounding death with dignity and dementia.

Our Guest:

D. Liebhart is a nurse and writer. She writes (and sometimes lives) stories about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, where they learn that life is rarely predictable and answers to life’s most complex questions are almost never black and white.

House on Fire, her debut novel, was long-listed for the 2022 Petrichor Prize. Her essay Thalassophobia (a true account of a very out-of-the-ordinary honeymoon) won the 2021 Linda Julian Creative Nonfiction Prize from Emrys Journal and is now available on her website.

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Related Episodes:

What Is Death Positivity?

The Heart of Caring – Dementia & Hospice

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Jennifer Fink Podcaster

After helping care for her grandmother who had vascular dementia, Jennifer realized her Mother was showing signs of early onset Alzheimer’s. After the death of her father in 2017 Jennifer went searching for answers to many of the common questions and Alzheimer’s caregiver faces. Being a busy entrepreneur Jennifer realized that a podcast would be the easiest way to learn more about caregiving while completing other tasks.

Sadly, in late 2017 she only found one and it didn’t quite address what she was looking for, so she did the next best thing, and started her own. The Fading Memories podcast is now in it’s fourth year and despite the death of her Mom in March 2020, Jennifer is still talking to caregivers and still learning how to be an excellent caregiver. On the podcast she discusses caregiving, brain health, self-care and how to age well.