My 75-year-old friend, with whom I’ve been in a LAT relationship for ten years, is clearly getting forgetful. I want him to go to the doctor, but when I say that he gets angry. He has a different doctor than me. How do I get him to go anyway?
I understand this is awful to look at. You want him to acknowledge the problem, because that will clarify. But he doesn’t want to know, because it’s not a nice prospect and it makes you unequal. You should not expect much in terms of medical treatment; he doesn’t have to go for that. You want it to remain pleasant and you want to prevent accidents in all kinds of areas in the future. It therefore seems especially important to me that you have someone who thinks along with you.
The general practitioner has a ‘practice assistant general practitioner’ (POH) for this purpose; this is usually a social psychiatric nurse. They can advise you on everything you come across and make sure that it is not too difficult for you. If necessary, he or she can decide to ‘scale up’, for example by consulting with their own GP or the elderly mental health care provider. If your friend asks why you are going to the doctor, you can just say so, but don’t argue with him. Say you need this for yourself. If he wants to come, he is welcome.
Sources):
- Plus Magazine
