re: A family member with dementia and telling them they can't drive

My prayers go out to you. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's five years ago. The very first thing the doctor did was send a notification to the DMV to revoke her license. It was extremely difficult for about the first year trying to deal with her wanting to drive.

After the first year, it appeared she had totally forgotten about driving...So we thought. This past August my mother waited until my father took a nap and took his car keys, got in their car and drove off. Did I mention this was during Friday, rush hour traffic (which here in the SF Bay Area is crazy)? She drove surface streets, jumped on Highway-101 (dealing with metering lights and heavy traffic) and drove 6 miles to a hospital, parked the car in a handicap spot and wandered into the ER. Did this without hitting anyone or anything (thank God) or driving in a way that would have alerted the police. Amazing in itself since she does not even recognize her own children.