Dementia in the elderly: an analysis of medical responsibility.

Chronic dementia syndromes are often assumed to be untreatable, and thus patients with these disorders are neglected and their condition worsens. Many interventions, however, can improve the functional capacity of these persons, and thus their abandonment has no ethical justification. Analysis of this problem points to psychological, educational, and institutional barriers responsible for the inadequate care of the demented. Physicians have the ability and power, and therefore the responsibility, to improve this situation.