1. The facts and characters contained in this introductory case are fictional. For insight into the real stories of persons with dementia and their families, see, for example, Jonathan Franzen, My Father's Brain: What Alzheimer's Takes Away, NEW YORKER 80 (Sept. 10, 2001); Emery Castle, A Couple's Journey with Alzheimer's Disease: The Many Faces of Intimacy, XXV GENERATIONS 81 (Summer 2001 ); SALLY CALLHAN, MY MOTHER'S VOICE (2000); MURIEL R. GILLICK, TANGLED MINDS: UNDERSTANDING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND OTHER DEMENTIAS (1998); JOHN BAYLEY, ELEGY FOR IRIS (1999).
2. Regarding legal issues in nursing home admission, see Marshall B. Kapp, The "Voluntary" Status of Nursing Facility Admissions: Legal, Practical and Public Policy Implications, 24 NEW ENG. J. CRIM. & CIVIL CONFINEMENT 1 (1998); Marshall B. Kapp, "A Place Like That": Advance Directives and Nursing Home Admissions, 4 PSYCHOL., PUB. POL'Y, & L. 805 (1998) [hereinafter Kapp, Place].
3. Many families feel that they have not received the medical help they need during the period prior to the diagnosis of dementia. See Cathleen M. Connell & Mary P. Gallant, Spouse Caregivers' Attitudes Toward Obtaining a Diagnosis of a Dementing Illness, 44 J. AM. GERIATR. SOC'Y 1003 (1996); David L. Morgan & Ping Z. Zhao, The Doctor-Caregiver Relationship: Managing the Care of Family Members with Alzheimer's Disease, 3 QUAL. HEALTH RES. 133 (1993).
4. Claudia H. Kawas & Ron Brookmeyer, Aging and the Public Health Effects of Dementia, 344 NEW ENG. J. MED. 1160(2001).
5. Gary W. Small, Dementia, in GERIATRIC REVIEW SYLLABUS: A CORE CURRICULUM IN GERIATRIC MEDICINE 103, 105 (Elizabeth L. Cobbs ed., 4th ed. 1999).