I would ask this really important question because as I neurologist I am always counseling people about this type of thing. Here s the question: WHY? 70 year old woman with Alzheimer s....what do we gain with the high risk surgery? If she gets severely complicated whatever her abilities are now to do anything, say anything, take care of herself, any interactions she has with the family will likely be severely compromised and possibly erased totally. She may then, have to become a full care patient in a nursing home and linger on for the want of having clipped an aneurysm? If the aneurysm pops and she goes in one fell swoop.....that s not such a bad fate. If it pops and she ends up in the same situation as the first I described...well, again, who could ve controlled that....at least we didn t do anything to hasten her to that point. Make sense? If surgery is successful and she lives another 5-10 years....who s to say she wouldn t lived that long anyways without doing the surgery? After all she got to 70 with the aneurysm.....right? Will surgery improve her aneurysm? No...will it make her more interactive, more independent? No and No.... The only thing surgery does FOR HER is tests her ability to roll the dice under general anesthesia, avoid having a stroke during the surgery, avoid having postoperative complications that could last weeks in duration, keep her on a ventilator because of anesthesia complications, and keeps the family on edge morning till night standing vigil at the hospital. Well, the hospital and the surgeon get to expend her Medicare funds which shows the government how important it is to have that kind of health care of insurance....but that s where the benefits of such a surgery are....in my humble opinion. I think it s a bad idea and I would put a stop to it. Good luck. If you would like to further discuss this with me in the PREMIUM section of the website then, please look me up at: http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/doctors/dr-dariush-saghafi/68474 and send me a direct query message. We can then, have more time to discuss things and I can get a bit more information....perhaps, I didn t completely understand the circumstance and was unnecessarily harsh on the person recommending the surgery....but honestly, if it were my MOTHER, or it were ME and my family making the decision....I would want them to say, Let me be with my aneurysm please but don t overlook other ways to keep me company and show you care...but please nothing that gains us nothing in the end and puts the family at greater risk than benefit overall! Good luck with the decision.