Lost in the Present: Anterograde Amnesia and Medical Decision Making Capacity ()
ABSTRACT
Although there have been a limited number of case reports of human bilateral hippocampal injury, none of these have addressed the impact of such injuries on medical decision making capacity. The authors present a case of an elderly man with discrete bilateral hippocampal injury. As a result of his injury, the patient was hopelessly “lost in the present” and only retained the basic cognitive functions necessary to have decision making capacity for a limited period of time. He was unable to appreciate the nature of his injury, the potential risks involved in his decisions, and the recommended course of treatment longer than a few minutes. The patient’s resultant neurocognitive deficits left him lacking medical decision making capacity, a likely outcome for patients with persistent anterograde amnesia.
Share and Cite:
J. McKelvie, C. Pierce, T. Dunn, P. Weintraub and R. House, "Lost in the Present: Anterograde Amnesia and Medical Decision Making Capacity,"
Open Journal of Medical Psychology, Vol. 3 No. 1, 2014, pp. 54-59. doi:
10.4236/ojmp.2014.31007.
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