News

Healio (7/12, Ernst) reports the American Academy of Neurology has issued an “updated position statement…about ethical considerations that often arise in the treatment of patients with dementia.” This update “revises the organization’s statement from 1996 on the same topic.” Included in the updated position statement are “four primary topics: the ‘complexities’ of communicating a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, making decisions in dementia care, management of symptoms as well as behavior and contextual issues.”MedPage Today (7/12, George) reports the guidance, which was “developed by the Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), American Neurological Association, and Child Neurology Society,” is an update of “the 1996 AAN ethics position statement.” While “the statement summarizes day-to-day considerations that often emerge when caring for patients with dementia” and does address “how these issues may influence patient management, it is not a clinical practice guideline,” its authors “emphasized.” The position statement was published online in Neurology. (SOURCE: APA Headlines)