Should a person living with dementia be called a patient?
A person living with a dementia related condition is only a patient, like any one of us, when he or she, requires particular health care. So the person is a patient when under the treatment of a medical or dental professional.
Just as any one of us can need medical or dental assistance, we are then a patient, but we aren’t a patient to anyone else. Equally so, a person living with dementia is not a patient to anyone other than the person’s health practitioner or provider, such as when in hospital. The idea that a person living with dementia is a patient stems from the medicalisation of dementia, yet dementia related conditions are not purely medical. A person living with dementia, even if living in residential care, should not be called a patient by anyone other than their health care practitioner.
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