George has dementia and is no longer able to make medical decisions for himself. Physically, George is fairly healthy, but has developed some heart issues that would benefit from a pacemaker. Prior to developing dementia, George appointed his niece Amanda to be his Health Care Agent and drafted a Living Will, wherein he stated he did not want any heroic measure in the event he was in an end-stage of a terminal illness. George told Amanda “I don’t want to be hooked up to all those machines. Just let me die!” But that was the extent of their conversation. Amanda was close to George when she was younger, but didn’t have a chance to see him too often in recent years. Now she needs to decide whether Uncle George should receive the pacemaker, which would probably prolong his life. But would he want to prolong his life given his advanced dementia?
