As a nurse who has taken care of hundreds and hundreds of people with dementia, I'm appalled that people on Slate are lumping them all together as one. Dementia is a disorder on a spectrum--some people have a mild case of dementia, some moderate some severe. Many of them have periods of great mental clarity.

What do you want these souls to do rot away the rest of their days without joy, pleasure, love and companionship? How selfish.

Failure to thrive is not just a syndrome for infants.