Can a person with dementia travel abroad alone?
Higgo asked...
Hi Just wondering my father is 84 and has been diagnosed with early dementia - he has been saying for quite sometime now he wants to travel to UK on his own but now he has dementia is this allowed medically?
Expert Answer
Dennis Fortier, MA, MBA, is the president and CEO of Medical Care Corporation, a neuroinformatics company that develops assessment technologies, enabling physicians to objectively evaluate memory and other cognitive functions in their patients. Fortier also authors the widely followed Brain Today blog, writing about advances in brain health, memory loss, and Alzheimer's disease.
While the term "dementia" has a very specific clinical definition, some physicians use it casually to describe a varying degree of impairment due to numerous medical conditions. Whether or not your father can travel alone depends on how impaired he is, what is causing the impairment, and what realms of his mental capacity are most diminished.
This is a discussion you should have with your father and his physician to determine if he is fit to travel alone or if he needs a companion to help along the way.