Amongst philosophers who study dementia there's this story that gets told over and over again,

and it's about a woman named Margot. Margo.

Margo was a 55 year old woman who suffered from early onset Alzheimer's disease.

She couldn't recognize anyone around her.

She spent her days painting and listening to music.

She read mystery novels too.

Often, the same book, day after day,

the mystery always remained mysterious because she would forget it.

But despite her on this or maybe even because of it,

Margot was very happy.

The Margot story presents philosophers with this riddle. Imagine that years ago when Margot was fully competent,

she wrote out a formal document explaining that if she ever developed

Alzheimer's disease, she would not want any life-saving medical treatment, and more than that,

she would want to be killed as soon and as painlessly as possible.

This poses that question, which version of the Margot should be listened to?

The then Margot before she got sick, the then Margot who never would want to live that way, or the now

Margot who's sitting before us and who is by all accounts, happy.

In other words, who is the authentic Marco?

From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro. This is the Daily.

Across the United States, millions of families are confronting a seemingly impossible question.

When dementia changes a relative, how much should they accommodate their new personality and their new desires?

Today, Times Magazine correspondent Katie Engelhart, with, January 26th.

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