Alzheimer Europe’s ethics working group holds first meeting

On 7 May, Alzheimer Europe held its first zoom meeting of the ethics working group, which will be looking at the issue of legal capacity. The planned full day meeting had to be cancelled because of the current situation with the corona virus pandemic. There was nevertheless a good turnout out with experts from Germany, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Portugal. The group decided to aim for two reports. One will contain detailed background information about the topic, covering various ethical issues related to legal capacity (e.g. healthcare decision making, restrictions of freedom, guardianship measures, marriage, voting and making a will) and this will be based on discussions within the group and relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature. The other will be a more targeted document concluding some of the key positions of the working group and will provide some practical guidance, promote ethical reflection and contain some recommendations. These documents should be available in December 2020.