He may have seen other things, like brain images and bloodwork. He would have known what medications the patient was on. He would have expected some movement of the eyes and response to touch, even if there was no hearing. Your time to ask him was then, sorry it did not occur to you.
Is your question related to the other questions you've asked regarding your legal challenge of the doctor's diagnosis, and your plan to gather information for a deposition?
This sounds like a question that would be asked of someone being deposted.
Dementia and mental impairment can be harder to diagnose in someone who is deaf or non-verbal, and I was once very angry at someone who assumed my mom wasn't all there/out of it because she could not hear instructions clearly and was scared because they were kind of barking at her. I told them in no uncertain terms that was no OK and showed them how to communicate and that she could in fact follow commands if she understood and was not too terrified to do anything. Darn near got myself thrown out of the place for my efforts, but it did work.
That said - the doctor has to determine if someone can take care of themselves, and if they cannot compensate for hearing and vision loss or physical disability well enough to functionally answer questions and/or direct others in their care, and over-sedation with medications was not the issue, even if they did not have dementia they could still be deemed incapacitated.
Bright alert people of any age, even if totally deaf, will figure out that someone is trying to communicate and will try to indicate their problem understanding and find an alternate means...I have seen deaf kids convince others they must be hearing fine because they get so good at reading lips and or subtle visual clues. Chances are the unresponsiveness is not a good sign for your loved one's mental abilities.
This sounds like a question that would be asked of someone being deposted.
That said - the doctor has to determine if someone can take care of themselves, and if they cannot compensate for hearing and vision loss or physical disability well enough to functionally answer questions and/or direct others in their care, and over-sedation with medications was not the issue, even if they did not have dementia they could still be deemed incapacitated.
Bright alert people of any age, even if totally deaf, will figure out that someone is trying to communicate and will try to indicate their problem understanding and find an alternate means...I have seen deaf kids convince others they must be hearing fine because they get so good at reading lips and or subtle visual clues. Chances are the unresponsiveness is not a good sign for your loved one's mental abilities.