Voting is a an essential right that challenges millions of Americans who have dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
For adults living with Alzheimer’s disease, voting is not a legal issue, since states allow helpers into the voting booth. There is an ethical dilemma at play, however: Can this population of voters understand the decisions they are making? There is also a debate among experts as to whether people with dementia can make the deeply personal decision on their own.
“The civil rights of people with dementia are very much in the hands of other people” — namely their nursing staff or family members who may not have the proper training to help ensure that the person voting is exercising their own opinion, Dr. Jason Karlawish, co-director of the Penn Memory Center and thought leader on ethical issues in Alzheimer’s disease, told www.statnews.com.
Click here to read more about the story of one committed voter and his fight against dementia.
— By David Ney