New guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology seek to help family members of dementia patients gauge when their loved one is no longer capable of driving.
“They created a scale to tell how incapacitated these dementia patients are,” says Dr. Ross. “It is all well and good to come out with these scales, but telling your mom and dad that you’re taking their keys is still very difficult. If they are still living independently, it can be impossible.”
Dr. Whelan agrees: “When you take someone’s independence away, they get very resentful. Still, you worry not only about your loved one, but also about the possibility that they might cause injury to someone else.”