In a talk last week sponsored by Harvard Law School's Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics, Prof. Francis Shen, JD, PhD, raised the question of how to grapple with powerful people who show signs of dementia. According to an item from WBUR, a public radio station in Boston, Shen's central point was that "politicians, who have huge advantages as incumbents, and federal judges, who serve for life, tend to stay on the job well past typical retirement ages. Yet we know that some cognitive decline with age is normal, and that the risk of dementia skyrockets as we get older. So it's reasonable to conclude that some judges and politicians are no longer up to their tasks." Shen is a Consortium affilate faculty member who specializes in neurolaw; he's currently a fellow at Petrie-Flom. Ultimately, Shen recommended a middle way, one that doesn't involve mandatory retirement ages for elected officials and judges but also doesn't ignore the social risks of their cognitive decline. Read the entire article here.