The car/driving problem
In November mom frustrated the police enough by calling them constantly to end up in a hospital with a psych evaluation, at that time they drove her to the hospital and told her she should not be driving anymore. In December mom's doctor told her that she should not be driving anymore - that seemed to have lasted for a couple of weeks in her mind, though she couldn't quite say why she wasn't supposed to drive. During that time her battery died and we decided just to keep the battery dead. Around February mom started asking about the car and what was wrong with it - we stalled and told her that the battery was very hard to find for her car and that it would take a special order to fix. Over the last month the stalling has stopped working and she is starting to get very upset about her car not working and not having her independence. We went through a phase when we tried to explain that her doctor and police told her that she should not be driving - this led to very angry outburst and rant about her not having dementia and how much of a pain in the ass this "label" has been for her - in her mind she is just depressed after my dad's passing a little over a year ago.
She is now fixated on the car and getting it fixed so that she can "get her live back together and start living again". Me and my siblings are not sure what the next step should be.
(1) Sell the car behind her back
(2) Replace the battery but have a "kill switch" installed so that she can't start it alone
(3) Replace the battery but put a steering wheel lock on it so that she can't drive it
(4) Don't replace the battery and let it rot in the driveway - not preferred.
From what we have read all of these options will lead to anger and frustration. The steering wheel lock is the simplest and what I am leaning towards but I dread her rediscovering it on her car each day and starting (another) daily cycle of anger and despair.
Selling the car is an option but I have read that this also leads to cycles of resentment and anger.
My feeling is that - like all dementia related decisions - there is no good solution and you just have to pick your poison and deal with the fallout. So this is probably mostly a vent-post but I am curious to know what you have done and how it turned out in your situation.