Too often the basic rights of people with dementia are overlooked

A FEW MONTHS before Vera mistook her grandson for a coconut, her son came by with someone she did not recognise. He was indeed a stranger, a local solicitor. He gave her a paper to sign, having first checked that she was fully aware of what she was doing, indeed, “as sharp as two tacks”. Thus did she sign away her money, property and decision-making rights to her son, this writer. The solicitor was right to think that he had only benevolent intentions. But this was a process, like many others, in which the rights of people with dementia can easily be forgotten.

The dilemmas start with diagnosis. With no cure on offer, and diagnostic tools crude and capable of getting it wrong, not everyone thinks people should be told they have early-stage dementia. Some may cope perfectly well with MCI and lose confidence only if given a diagnosis that sounds like a brain-death sentence. But most charities argue that early diagnosis is both their right, and helpful in making care arrangements—and indeed plans to hand over decision-making in good time.