Legal interventions for persons with dementia in the USA: ethical, policy and practical aspects

The US legal system has developed a number of methods by which the state or private parties may intervene to protect persons, including those with dem entia, who lack sufficient cognitive or emotional capacity to make and expr ess autonomous choices about various aspects of their lives. These interven tions may be planned and voluntary or unplanned and involuntary. This artic le explores the ethical and cultural values underlying legal alternatives i n the United States and their strengths and weaknesses when measured agains t those values. The article poses issues about which US policy makers, heal th and human service practitioners, and attorneys might seek wisdom from th e various strategies that other countries have devised to deal with the cha llenge of protecting, but not overprotecting, their own citizens with demen tia.