Legal Issues for Caregivers of Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

When a family member or friend is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, the initial reaction is often sadness and distress at what the future may hold. Over the course of the disease progression, families and caregivers are faced with an array of health and legal issues. As our society ages and our life expectancy steadily increases, the number of people directly touched by this disease expands. This will have significant ramifications for health care and legal policy. Questions of the use and limitations of advance care plans, and their implication for participation in research, continue to arise. The influence of Medicare coverage policy on access to health care and the implications of Alzheimer's disease and behavioral complications for our health and legal systems must be further explored. In this chapter, we examine these multifaceted issues and identify policy challenges for the future that should seek to balance the interests of the various stakeholders with the need to protect individuals with Alzheimer's disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)