What kind of doctor should we be looking for?

Any geriatric doctor or neurologist should be able to administer a simple SLUMS or MoCA cognitive exam which is short and quite accurate to diagnose whether executive brain function issues indicating dementia is present. The test takes 10 minutes, is scored on a scale of 1-30 and will give you a baseline of where grandpa stands, cognitively right now. Google SLUMS test for all the info and a sample test, etc. A thorough neurological test can take hours and hours and not wind up divulging more than the mini test does, but stressing grandpa out to the max. Start slow and know where things stand, that's my suggestion.

My mother scored an 18 on her first SLUMS administered to her while in the hospital, at my request upon suspicion of dementia being present. She was diagnosed w progressive dementia then, which was spot on, thought to be vascular in nature, with a 5 yr life expectancy to it, give or take. She passed 6 yrs later, getting progressively worse, just as indicated by the SLUMS score.

Best of luck.

This is the post you are referring to:

https://www.agingcare.com/questions/anyone-have-a-loved-one-that-they-suspect-is-gaining-memory-issues-but-doctors-wont-listen-478246.htm

You received a pretty good reply from Sohenc and others said geriatric doctor/phyciatrist and another neurologist. BarbBrooklyn added, on this question, even more info about checking out a teaching college.

Does the neurologist specialize in dementia?

A geriatrician (geriatric doc) will be very familiar with dementia and if a neurologist opinion/diagnosis would be helpful.

Are you his MPoA? Or his HIPAA/Medical Representative? If you are neither then your grandfather's medical team *cannot* legally discuss anything with you, without your Grandfather being present.

It is helpful to get a medical diagnosis of his cognitive condition in his records. But you need to have a legal ability to help him/represent him. You can ask for the HIPAA/Medical Representative form at each doctor's clinic. Have you Grandfather write in your name, then he signs it and you submit it back to their receptionist.

If he doesn't have an assigned DPoA, then I'd work on getting this done at the same time.

We got my mom a comprehensive geriatric cognitive evaluation through the Burke Institute, a major rehab center in White Plains, NY. Her team there consisted of a neurologist, a psychiatric nurse and a neuro-psychologist; this last practice was the one who did the all day pencil and paper testing.

My husband has had a similar workup at the Pearl Barlow Center, which is part of NYU.

If you want your grandfather to have an accurate assessment of his skills, a neuropsych assessment will tell you a great deal. Contact the best teaching hospital in your area and ask for the geriatrics department. They should be able to guide you.

We got far better care for my mom from a geriatrics doc than from her longtime GP.

My husband still sees our GP, but he is well tuned in to the issues he is dealing with.

Eta, it looks like Ohio State is the place you want to look.

Tell your grandfather’s neurologist the same thing that you have told this forum.

Ask for in-depth testing for your grandfather.