Do people with dementia know they have dementia?

A no-nonsense interview with Biden would reveal important findings

(This article is Part-5 in a series; for Part-6, go here; for Part-4, go here.)

Excuse me, what did you just ask me? I forgot.

—But seriously, there is no such thing as dementia. It’s one of those adored medical catch-all terms.

There is brain damage.

There are people who are so beset by problems they forget details and can’t get it together.

There are people who have others around them who are seeking to undermine and gaslight them.

Any of these situations can result in forgetfulness, mental wandering, gross gaffes, non-sequiturs, and—to use a highly technical term—crazy shit.

People have forgotten, or never knew, that in 1988, Biden suffered a brain aneurysm. He had surgery. Then, during recovery, he had a pulmonary embolism. That was followed by another aneurysm and a second surgery. All very serious stuff. I’d be willing to bet that a brain scan today would show some lingering brain damage.

A no-nonsense interview would reveal important findings.

The interviewer would ask: Are you aware you wander off-track while speaking?

Do you know you confuse two subjects and combine them in odd ways that don’t make sense?

These are just warm-up questions.

The interviewer would then play video for Biden that illustrates, say, a dozen of his gaffes and weird statements and confused behavior. He would ask Biden about each instance. “What exactly was going on there?” “Why did you say ‘we beat Medicare’?”