Doctors are torturing dementia patients at the end of their life. And it’s totally unnecessary.

From The Washington Post, a story by Geoffrey Hosta that is the opposite of the doctors' first imperative: first, do no harm.

I recently tortured an 88-year-old woman with advanced dementia. Her mind was gone. She didn’t know her own name. Like other advanced dementia patients, she suffered incontinence, aggression, immobility, unaddressed pain and more. Her quality of life was dismal.

Her family brought her to the hospital because she had a high fever and was more confused than usual. I knew that she was near her end.

I asked her daughter, son-in-law and grandson what I always ask families managing a relative’s final days: “Do you want us to do procedures that may well be painful and will not improve her quality of life? Or do you want us to let her go in peace?”

Dr, Hosta says most families choose the second option.