Advertisement
Fabulous fibre
No pill can do what dietary fibre does for us - here's why you should eat it.
Zim: free coffins
The Zim government is offering free coffins and graves to cholera victims.
     TERMS     GET A DAILY HEALTH TIP  
  
MAKE HEALTH24 YOUR HOMEPAGE   
H24 NEWS MEDICAL SCHEMES DIET FITNESS NATURAL MAN WOMAN SEX PREGNANCY CHILD TEEN SUN
FOCUS CENTRES MEDS ORAL PET MIND GRAPHICS VIDEOS ANTI-AGEING WIN TOOLS EXPERTS TALK FIND

Links
 Find a buddy
 Sexuality
 Psychology
 Food as medicine
 Healthy foods
 Life stages, Women
 Life stages, Men
 Pollen Counter
 Healthy Home
 Allergy Free Home
 Fitness Programmes

Alzheimer's & Dementia - Medico-legal aspects
Impaired decision-making
Last updated: Friday, November 02, 2007
Alzheimer’s dementia and other degenerative dementias impair brain functioning and over time will inevitably lead to impaired decision-making. Patients may refuse to undergo treatment, may be unable to draw up and sign a will, and lastly, may not be able to conduct their own financial affairs.

 
Advertisement
To make decisions, we require attention and concentration, planning ability (executive functions), memory, judgement and insight. Alzheimer’s disease affects all these aspects of brain functioning during the different stages of the illness. In the early stages memory is affected and to some extent planning ability. Judgement and insight can be affected early, but in most instances it is affected from the middle stages of the illness.

Written by Dr Frans Hugo, MBChB, M.Med Psychiatry and Dr L. Van Wyk, MBChB, M. Med (Psych) from the Panorama Memory Clinic.

Read more:
How to exercise your mind
When is my memory impaired?

For more information visit: Dementia SA: http://www.dementiasa.org/ or Alzheimer’s South Africa: http://www.alzheimers.org.za
 
Print this article
 Rate this article
Poor 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent

 JOBS
Senior Secretary
Gauteng - North/Sandton
Infrastructure Resource
Gauteng - Johannesburg
Management Accountant
R450,000-500,000 Per Annum Cost To Company
Gauteng - Johannesburg
Financial Manager
R350,000-400,000 Per Annum Cost To Company
Gauteng - Johannesburg
Financial and Project Accountant
R300,000-360,000 Per Annum Cost To Company
Gauteng - Johannesburg
Financial Accountant
R380,000-420,000 Per Annum Cost To Company
Gauteng - Johannesburg
SSIS Business Intelligence Specialists (SSIS; SSAS)
R350,000-500,000 Per Annum Cost To Company
Gauteng - North/Sandton
Financial Accountant
R350,000-450,000 Per Annum Cost To Company
Gauteng - South
  Next
Alzheimer's & Dementia menu
About Alzheimer's & Dementia
All about Alzheimer's disease
Brain, bits and bytes
FAQ
Health tips
Latest research
Looking after your loved one
Medico-legal aspects
Memory techniques
Memory tests
Other dementing illnesses
Real life story
Support groups
Symptoms and signs
The difference
Treatment
 Sponsored links
 Health24 links

Advertisement


© Health24 2000-2008. All rights reserved
  
We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health
information.
Verify here.