Gary Johnson, an elder care attorney in Castleton Corners, offers a checklist of advance directives - legal documents conveying medical preferences in the event a person is unable to make decisions on his own - and end-of-life issues families should talk over.

Two years ago, Reznick, who has early-stage Alzheimer's disease and is now 82, signed up for an experiment intended to help people with Alzheimer's and other memory disorders.