A growing controversy surrounds dementia and palliative care. The question concerns whether a patient with dementia who is approaching the end of their life should be treated with palliative care, meaning to stay in their home or a nursing home and allow their life to end as gently and peacefully as possible, or should they be admitted to the hospital and receive aggressive treatment to keep them alive.

This is certainly a sensitive subject, especially for family members who want their loved one around them as long as possible, but who also hate to see them suffer. Hopefully this article will provide information that will help someone make the right decision for them and their loved one, or will prompt them to seek further information about end of life issues.