I don't think there is a good answer for this one, since we found that
many doctors and other staff insisted on trying to question her at a
point in the disease where it was a lost cause - i.e. to the point
where she just couldn't provide information in any way that was
helpful or made sense.

Some of them were quite brusque with her - i.e. when she just stared
at them, they'd repeat the question impatiently, or louder. It was
surprising that very few knew how to talk to someone with cognitive or
memory issues - i.e. they would often ask long convoluted questions or
use complex language - and the only way to get any sense out of her
would have been to ask very short, simple questions. By the time they
got a long question out, she'd have forgotten the first part. She'd
also confabulate - try to answer, but end up telling long looping
shaggy dog stories that didn't answer the question. She'd also give
some strange answer and then look at me to see if the answer was
right.

My husband typed out a detailed medical history for her and kept it
updated, and we used to hand staff a copy when we saw some new doctor
or she had to go to emerg, to try and cut down on the upsetting and
pointless interrogation about when she'd had what surgery, or what
date XYZ had started hurting.

Even in early AD, docs would also try to explain things to her not
realizing her language and memory problems - so you can't win. It
would be better if they  gave handouts to take home about various
illnesses. When she was first having AD symptoms, we didn't always go
to appointments with her, but she'd come home and we couldn't figure
out if she'd actually told the doctor about whatever was bothering her
(often she'd forget the main point of the visit), much less get out of
her what the doctor had said.

Mary G.