It’s been suggested that advance care directives and ‘dying with dignity’ be merged so that people, when competent, can direct what they want to happen if they dement.

Many Australians now die of, or with, dementia, but that’s largely because more people live long enough to dement.

Average life expectancy in Australia is now in the 80s.

A monograph published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 2023, titled Dementia in Australia, cites figures which show that the “rate of dementia rises quickly with age, from less than one person with dementia per 1000 Australians aged under 60, to 71 per 1000 Australians aged 75–79, and then to 429 per 1000 Australians aged 90 and over”.