Telephone interviews with 104 family caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients revealed that physicians progressively communicated more with caregivers and less with patients. We identified four levels of physician interaction with patients and five levels of interaction with caregivers. Caregivers wanted more information from physicians about expected progress of the disease, financial/legal issues, available services, research projects and their own personal needs. Half the caregivers had discussed advance directives with physicians, three-quarters of them had legal decision making powers for the patient, and one-third of the patients had living wills.
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