Going demented

Slightly puzzled by this prominently displayed advertisement the other day, on a door jamb of a Southwest Trains train. What is to be gained by knowing? Knowing while I might still be thought to be in a position to understand.

If one was allowed to call time on oneself, knowing might allow oneself to time one's exit. Not too early - and not so late that the people around might doubt one's competence to take such a life changing decision. But all this is barely legal (yet), so that can't be what the advertisers have in mind.

Knowing might allow oneself time to make arrangements and dispositions before one's affairs fell into a power of attorney or the public guardian.

Knowing might allow one to be the object of careful observation, helpful to people making a profession of the disease.

Knowing might allow one to make adjustments to one's lifestyle to mitigate the effects of the disease. Perhaps to stop driving. Or to stop arguing with one's partner about bridge calls or the proper brand of washing-up liquid. Or to accept that there needed to be a lock on one's own door.

But, as I understand it, there is, as yet anyway, no cure. Nothing can be done to slow, never mind halt, the progress of the disease. So why spoil what it left of my decent time by the knowledge that it was soon to become indecent? Particularly since there seems to be something particularly indecent about going in this particular way.

Good doctors are said to be able to judge how much any particular patient should be told about his or her condition. Alternatively, I remember a doctor in an episode of Morse who said that he always told his patients the unvarnished truth, a matter of respect for one's patients. Perhaps it is all a question of timing. Perhaps it is a question of striking a balance between all the aforesaid considerations. So why is the advertisement there? I dare say the people posting it know their business, so what do they know that I do not? What balance have they struck?