Good evening, Doctor. My 88 year old Dad has entered into permanent delirium. He is in a phyciatric hospital in Gloucester, MA. My 84 year old Mom had been caring for him at home with his dementia for almost two years, the progression of his dementia and the stress it caused her she ended up with shingles. At that point my siblings (5 adults) and I made the decision that she couldn’t care for him any longer and he was moved to a beautiful memory care facility. He did very well with the transition and after a little over a month and a half he started acting out, yelling and calling out for help. The nurse put him on trazadone and it didn’t calm him so the dosage was increased. Turns out he hadn’t urinated in almost a week, but the care facility didn’t know that. One day, just about three weeks he was taken by ambulance to Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA as the facility thought he may have a UTI. That wasn’t the case, the backup in his bladder caused his change in behavior. Once the nurses were finally able to get a catheter in, he filled almost 3/4 of the bag. He was admitted and that’s when he really started to decline. He needed a sitter 24 hours. His behavior got progressively worse and that’s when he was transferred to Gloucester. He’s been there a week and it’s horrifying to see this sweet, kind, gentle and loving man being tourchered by his own mind. He has passed the point of return and as a family decided it was most important that the torture stopped. At his age he wouldn’t ever have a quality life again. The hospital said they would keep him comfortable and shortly he would start to decline. phnominia was a possibility or dehydration. My question is are these painful ways to die? Are there other factors that could bring him to his end? He is suffering so much now, I can see how tormented he is. I love him so much and hate all of what’s happened to him so I’m hoping you could give me your thoughts on my Dad’s situation. Thank you so much for reading my long email, I wanted to give you as much information as possible. Peace, Nancy Keating.