- cross-posted to:
- dach@feddit.org
- cross-posted to:
- dach@feddit.org
Gene Hackman, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, lived in the house with his dead wife for a week before he died.
Of the three dogs living in the house, one died because it was locked in a carrier and therefore probably starved to death. The two free-living dogs were the only ones to survive.
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Hantavirus is no joke.
Euthanasia is a human right
This is why I detest the idea of keeping someone alive at any cost that’s currently the law, euthanasia should be legalized and available to everyone, at some point we all have to die, I don’t understand why make people suffer into old age, we put pets down when they get too old and sick because we know that’s mercy, then why is the same mercy not shown to human beings.
Edit: I am talking about auto euthanasia, aka an individuals right to chose his own end, not others making that choice for old / sick people
because people can’t misuse laws for pet euthanasia in order to get an early inheritance, or to get their toe in before a will changes.
in many scenarios, euthanasia does make sense but there is ample opportunity for greedy people to misuse such laws. it would be hazardous to enact such a law unless adequate protection is provided.
Well, so provide adequate protection… Like with universal healthcare, many countries have figured it out, it’s not really trailblazing territory anymore.
I was referring to auto euthanasia, where the person choses it of his own will, of course lots and lots of saftey and security checks need to still be added to make sure no one is being coerced into it
Because religion
Sorry, are you saying other people should be allowed to “put down” someone whenever they decide it’s mercy? Are you applying your example about putting down pets directly to humans?
You know who had a big euthanasia program? The Nazis. They murdered people who were unworthy to live. They killed (among many groups of people) people born with disabilities and justified it as “mercy”.
I think you meam something else so please be careful what you are writing. It’s easily misunderstood.
Euthanasia can be voluntary.
You have no idea what you’re talking about, and frankly, people like you are the reason that so many people are forced to suffer through an undignified, painful and traumatic death, despite the existence of better alternatives.
Please be careful what you’re writing.
Fwiw, I understood their comment as “everyone should have the right to decide when they want to die, we need death with dignity laws”
I felt the implication was people with terminal illnesses and such.
I did not interpret it anywhere near “we should murder healthy people against their will in gas chambers.”
I’m talking about individuals choosing euthanasia of their own free will, not others choosing that option for someone.
Oof… When I had read the news that everyone had died in the house I assumed it was a CO2/Carbon Monoxide leak. This is even sadder. 😟
That’s what I thought too. It’s very sad.
Reminds me of that case in the UK where a dad suffered a heart attack and his 2 year old child died from dehydration. As a dad that one made a tear come to my eye.
Jesus. That just rips my heart out.
Fucking grim.
God damn, that’s an even sadder ending than I thought it would be.
Notable points:
- Betsy likely died on or shortly after Feb 11.
- Gene’s pacemaker recorded last heart activity on Feb 18.
- Betsy died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, likely transmitted to her by a mouse. Hantavirus mortality rate in the US southwest is 38% to 50%.
- The pills in the bathroom were thyroid medication.
- Gene’s cause of death was heart related. He showed severe cardiac and pulmonary problems, had a history of heart attacks and related surgeries.
- Gene’s brain showed advanced Alzheimer’s.
- Gene did not have hantavirus. Neither had Covid, flu, or any other common respiratory disease. No effects of carbon monoxide were seen.
- No mention of the dog, but with the time frames involved, it’s not hard to speculate.
Also, he was found to have not eaten recently, hut no indications of being dehydrated.
I read in another article that the dog that died had recently come back from a medical procedure at the vet, and was being kept in a crate. The two that survived had access to a dog door so presumably were able to get food/water outside.
Wasn’t dog in a crate? Possibly died due to lack of water and food?
Dog was in the bathroom closet.
So he was alone in the house for a week, while suffering Alzheimer?!
That’s absolutely horrible.Not technically alone but if he had advanced enough in the disease, he would probably not notice that anything has happened…
Or he found his wife dead multiple times and by the time he could get to a phone to call for help he’d forgotten why he needed the phone.
It would have been too advanced for him to think of the phone in the first place at that point.
We’ve dealt with terminal Alzheimer’s in my family and it’s crazy that the only viable death is starvation/dehydration even in a care facility on hospice.
One week would have been a huge relief compared to the years of wasting, basically forced eating, and decline that we had to witness with my MIL. She couldn’t even smile for the last year and a half or more. We need end of life laws and to respect DNR paperwork much more proactively.
The same happened to my grandfather. I’ll absolutely off myself if I ever get diagnosed.
I had thought of that possibility and decided to go with the happier option. I also don’t want to think too hard about the entire probable series of events. Surface level is sad enough
This is a whole lot of messed up. Honestly didn’t know the situation with Gene as he had faded from popularity and was obviously getting on in age. Just thinking of that situation though, absolutely horrible. The only thing I can hope is that Gene was far enough gone he didn’t realize his wife was dead, but even then. Just alone and scared for a week.
Not only alone and scared, probably also hungry and thirsty. Poor guy. What a tragic ending.
My radio news this morning said he was quite possibly far enough gone.
I’m wondering if he spent days unconscious after some cardiac event, before finally dying.
His wife was young enough that it probably never occurred to her to have a back-up plan for his care or general wellness checks. Absolutely awful.
Let this be a lesson for everyone, no matter how young one is, always have a backup plan for the care of people that’s important to you, and for yourself.
My mum’s next door neighbour is a 70 something man. His wife was 50 something. They had talked about how he would be the first to go and planned accordingly. She then died suddenly. Life takes unexpected turns.
To add a note, they’re famously private people, hence living out there in the first place. It’s not that unusual to go unnoticed when you live on a gated compound and don’t like socializing with your neighbors. From what I could tell they didn’t even know who those two were.
This is why I find it sad that people have ceased to be so communal and supportive anymore. People become siloed and individualistic, and there’s nobody to check up on them, and their neighbor doesn’t even know who they are. :(
If any good comes of this, it will be raising awareness.
It doesn’t cost you anything to check in on your neighbors.
Elderly people should really not be alone at all. The American family model is not healthy.
65 isn’t really “elderly”. She just had bad luck, contracting a rare disease.
The problem is not her age but the lack of contingency planning - this actually happens a lot in industrial nations. The caring partner has an accident or a sudden medical illness and the person cared for dies of the lack of care.
The easiest form of backup is someone checking in regularly by phone - if the relatives (Hackman had three children and at least one granddaughter - but it seems they were estranged) or friends can form some form of habit to call each on a different day and act if none picks up unexpectedly, most of these cases can be effectivly solved.
But additional options exist: Modern medical alarm systems can be programmed to have a “death man switch” - if a certain key is not pressed once or twice a day the system sends out an alarm to the alarm company and they try to get a voice contact. For carers of bed bound patients (with no large pets - so not applicable here) the option to use a motion detector in a hallway exists - instead of the button the system sends out an alarm when none is moving in the hallway for a certain amount of time,which means something is wrong with the carer.
Lately there are ambient assisted living (basically smarthome) systems that can be used as well - e.g. you can hook up a sensor to the microwave and cutlery drawer. Neither has been opened by 2pm? So none had breakfast or lunch and something is wrong. Etc. etc.
In the end people need to plan ahead - and that is the problem. Because by doing so they must submit to their own mortality and we don’t like that.
In 22 years in healthcare I had my fair share of these cases. Most end well, but only go on our nerves as paramedics (and nurses),because it’s a really big problem if you have a patient who is the carer of someone who can’t stay at home alone, and the patient needs urgent transport. (We can’t simply take them with us most of the time)
But just to give you a few examples of cases I remember:
-
The 45 y/o lady who basically died of thirst fully conscious - She was a quadriplegic, her husband was a bit older and seemed to have suffered a sudden cardiac arrest while caring for her, ripping of her communication computer of her bed while going down. She was still alive when found, but sadly we couldn’t save her, organs and brain were to far gone. That one really left a mark in my brain.
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The 80 year old lady who was mobile but had heavy Alzheimer and ran away (possibly to find help,not totally known) after her partner was unable to get up for 36h after an fall resulting in a broken hip. He literally saw her walking out but couldn’t stop her. She was found 4 weeks later, in a creek.
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The 90 year old who died of thirst and hunger after his somewhat wife died during the night. He made notes on a piece of paper about the dates… But was unable to summon help due to being bed bound. Especially bad as he had a system in place - their daughter called every day - but she had a horrific accident on “day one” and was in coma.
Anyway. It’s a horrific way to go. Talk to your elderly relatives and neighbours.
Damn!
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Be that as it may ,we aren’t going to change the system overnight.
Not with that attitude no
Indeed. My brother and I have already had the idea that either I will build a single bed apartment for my mom with us, or he’ll move his family into our family house and have her take to downstairs bedroom when the stairs become too much. No way in hell we’re putting her in a home or letting her stay solo once she gets into her 80s.
But you could get arrested for snooping on celebs
I mean, there’s a difference between trusted caretakers, civil servants, or family checking in and Billy Bob from the dailymail.
Damn, that’s terrible… Did they not have family or someone to check in on them regularly? I guess if she was 65, they thought he was in good hands…
I don’t know how easy it is to contact hantavirus. Does it take one rat or a lot?
Just a tiny bit of infected rat shit.
Actually the most common way is through aerosolized particles, meaning there is a ton of rat shit and piss somewhere in your living space (like an attic or crawlspace) and it gets into your air supply. Far less commonly but still possibly it can be through direct exposure to feces and urine, or even more rarely through a scratch/bite
Despite this it’s astoundingly rare. 20-50 cases annually for the entirety of the USA and less than 1000 from 1993-2022
How horrible.
OK, if she died, literally, days before he did, why was nobody found a dead in the house until many days later?
Did he sit by her side, while she was dead, for days before his heart finally gave up? Did he only come home right before finding her and then dying too?
While this report answered a lot of questions, it certainly raises many others that have not yet been addressed…
he had Alzheimer’s. probably continually kept discovering her dead. that’s rough.
Then how were neither of them discovered until remarkable time afterward? His wife may have died before him, but nobody noticed gene well after he was dead. All of us still seems extreme less suspicious.
Wasn’t it also noted they were still pretty seclusive after COVID? Besides, not having visitors for a couple of weeks isn’t that odd.
Joel?
But…you can’t imagine a case where a notoriously private couple might not get visitors for a week? Visitors who wouldn’t just leave when no one answered the door, assuming they weren’t home or in the shower or something?
Yeah, I don’t think I have anybody that comes by my house outside of the people I live with. I don’t think it’s weird at all that somebody could be dead for a week before being noticed.
why so combative?
maybe I just don’t go around imagining abstract death scenarios. your life sounds…. interesting….
This is such a weird reply.
So was the other message I replied to.
Oh, you weren’t getting the response you wanted from your trolling efforts?
Boo fucking hoo
Ok
