Medico-legal issues of research on alzheimer's patients

The paper's authors, after going over the social burden of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), elaborate on the following issues: a) the opportunity to make patients acquainted with their diagnosis; b) validity of informed consent, despite the disease running its course; c) the possibility for doctors to rely on a patient's will, albeit expressed during a previous stage of the disease; and d) the feasibility of experimental or therapeutic treatments performed on Alzheimer's patients. The above mentioned aspects are delved into in light of both European Union regulations and of the Italian Code of Medical Ethics. Such rules appear to be grounded in the principles of beneficence and autonomy Specifically, the freedom not to be informed and the principle of graduality and caution in conveying the information stand out as noteworthy elements. It is also essential for patients to be fully aware of the issues that they will be facing. As far as consent is concerned, a patient's incapacity is not deemed sufficient grounds to forgo the pursuit of a human relationship, which in turn entails the avoidance of impositions whenever possible. As for advance directives, AD lends itself more than other conditions to allow patients to validly express their will in advance. Scientific research trials can also be carried out on Alzheimer's sufferers, as long as the disease is at an early stage as not to impair their decision-making capacity in any measure. Otherwise, patients may only undergo therapeutic treatments. By virtue of such regulatory data and the principles by which they were inspired, the authors have favourably concluded the overall ethical need to mold all treatments and health care choices according to the following principle: patients incapable of exercising self-determination are still human beings and they retain the same ethical value and rights as capable people.