I am a nurse by profession (specialist in pediatric nephrology) and a daughter to my 91-year-old father who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and advancing dementia ("Palliative Care in the Acute Care Setting," Perspectives on Palliative Nursing, September). I have been voicing the need for exactly what this article discusses. A patient with dementia needs to be treated the same as a patient with cancer when all treatments fail. There is no treatment to stop the advancement of dementia. My dad suffers. He needs palliative care. How can we get this to be recognized as such and get the correct treatment? Thank you so much for getting things going.

Nomi M., via ajnoffthecharts.com