Compassionate Deception: Is Therapeutic Fibbing Okay to Do When a Loved One Has Dementia?
|
People living with dementia commonly experience different realities and beliefs from those around them.
Barton Bernstein, an emeritus professor of history at Stanford University, has experienced this first hand with his 79-year-old wife, Donna, who has advanced dementia. He’s been her caregiver for the past two-and-a-half years at home until recently, when a fall required her to be moved to a Sunrise Assisted Living/Memory Care Facility. Barton, 82, bicycles to the memory care facility
twice daily to be with his wife through lunch, dinner, and bedtime.
"Occasionally she'll say, 'I want to go home.' And I'll say, as I wheel her into the room, 'Oh, now we're home.' She'll look at me and smile, I'll kiss her and she'll go to sleep," Bernstein said. He knows that if he was completely honest with her and told her that she was in a memory care facility, that he would just upset her for the moment and not be accomplishing
anything.
Donna Bernstein Lied to Her Own Mother Out of Compassion
|
Order Books by Evan Farr, 4-Time Best-Selling Author
|
Certified Elder Law Attorney and Medicaid Asset Protection Expert, Evan H. Farr, CELA, has written four best-selling books in the field of elder law. For more information and to order, click here.
|
Receive Special Reports of Your Choice
|
We offer free special reports for all of the topics below. To instantly subscribe to any of these reports, just click on the cover!
|
|
|
