Patients in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, weakened by a lack of nutrition, often die from pneumonia, said Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish.
Responding to a New York Times reader question, Karlawish said these Alzheimer’s patients may stop eating and increase their risk of infection.
“You see a general decline in the contribution the brain makes, not just in thinking, but in maintaining the body’s homeostasis,” Karlawish said, adding that feeding tubes are discouraged, as they only prolong the patient’s suffering.