How banks may catch signs of dementia before the doctors do
The writer is a contributing columnist, based in Chicago
Kirk Johnson says a few late utility bills and a dental bill that “fell through the cracks” were the first clues that his “brilliant” wife, a 50-something senior executive, would be diagnosed with dementia years later. Ann in Atlanta says her family became aware of cognitive problems in an elderly relative when he began writing “$10 or $20 cheques to any charity that asked — real or fake”, long before his diagnosis.
It’s a story that loved ones tell repeatedly about Americans living with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease: a father who pays bills more than once, long before other memory problems surface; a mother with “terrible anxiety over the administration of her finances”; a normally frugal widow who runs through a nest egg by shopping compulsively online.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Patti Waldmeir
