When is it enough? When is it time to look at quality of life vs prevention?

I was working in a nursing home this week…the dementia unit. Some patients are happy, some are absolutely miserable. One patient who spends most of the time in bed was restarted on cholesterol medication “per family request”. Mind you, the patient is over 80.

In this particular unit, many of the residents are not aware of their bowl and bladder urges and are in adult diapers. Do they really need a medicine to help with urge incontinence? Every medication has side effects. As for me, if I get there, PLEASE discontinue my overactive bladder and my cholesterol medication.