[Psychogeriatrics in the year 2000: a medical and ethical challenge for society in Quebec].

: During the past fifteen years, remarkable developments have occurred in Psychogeriatrics. Major advances have taken place in the biology of aging and the care of the elderly. Because of the demographic expansion of the geriatric population, psychiatrists and family physicians need to be familiar with the specific interventions which are available to tract the psychiatric problems of the elderly. Economic concerns should not distract attention from fundamental ethics issues connected with Psychogeriatrics. The intrinsic dignity of every human being must be recognized especially in the case of more vulnerable elderly patients. Such a conviction could prove essential as medicine and ethics face the new challenges that Psychogeriatrics will bring to Quebec int the next decades.