Addressing and answering questions regarding life sustaining measures for your elderly loved one diagnosed with dementia disease. Part 1: DNR, or Do not resuscitate orders.

The 3 things that I hope for you to take away from today’s podcast are:1. Understanding the basics of a Do Not Resuscitate or DNR order.2. Understanding how DNR orders can be applied through concrete examples.3. Understanding the importance of discussing questions regarding life sustaining measures with anyone diagnosed with a chronic debilitating disease. Legal decision making capabilities will be impaired as dementia disease worsens. During early stages of dementia, in general, most patients are usually still able to think about and express their true wishes regarding their rights. If your loved one is at a stage in their health, where they still have their own functioning cognitive ability, having them provide input into their wishes will take a lot of the guess work out of figuring what they want. Focusing on specific medical topics and questions that should be addressed with and answered by your elderly loved one once they are diagnosed with a chronic progressive dementia disease will help equip you, as a caregiver, to better care for them and provide them with more dignity throughout their disease course.