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Abstract
The following is how the situation is to be judged when patients with dementia have a living will. An important issue for both medical and legal practice is how to deal with the previously expressed wishes of the patient, after he has become dementia. Fundamental fears of dementia exist in society, with the loss of autonomy and a change of essence. Many of those affected are also afraid of being a burden on relatives and society. Because of this, ethical conflicts are often to be inevitable, especially where decisions have to be made that relate to central values of modern western society, such as independence, productivity and rationality. In medical ethics, time does not allow for moral-philosophical basic problems to be solved. To find a consensus, it recommends using the principles of biomedical ethics used by Beauchamp and Childress from 1979. It is recommended because these principles are on a medium level, they are well suited for consensus. Furthermore, the author supports these principles because only the clear identification of the ethical problem contributes to a first step in conflict resolution