What a sad and tragic story. I imagine the care facility will be facing a lawsuit since there was a prior incident. At what point does a care facility deem a patient to be a threat to others? I would imagine that the Gagne family will have to take him home.
Verne Gagne and professional wrestling, before the WWF and Vince McMahon, was the "soap opera" for little kids in the Upper Midwest. We all knew it was hokey and an act, but that didn't stop us from watching it. Vern was the "good guy" and perennial champion. He always had little lessons in personal responsibility, health, and nutrition for the kids.
A very, very tragic situation iggy ........ there is always a lot of "woulda, coulda, shoulda" when these sorts of things occur but it just shows you really never know how or when an AZ/Dementia patient is going to act or react to any situation at any particular moment. Those of us dealing with/caring for really have to be on our toes at all times .......... and even that, sadly sometimes, isn't enough.
My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved in this sad situation.
Years ago I took DH for a flu shot. The nurse started to cry, it was so obvious I had to ask her what was wrong. She said, 'he has Alz doesn't he?' I said yes. She said just a week before, her mother who had AD was in a care facility and her roommate also w/AD killed her. I never asked how, I didn't need to know but ever since I have been all too aware of how these things can happen.
There was a woman at one of the facilities here who would get up in the middle of the night and "beat up" some of the other residents at a nursing home dementia ward. I don't know how they finally handled it but this sure makes us want to keep our loved ones at home, if at all possible.
Even where my Dad lives...........touted as one of the best facilities devoted to Alzheimer's care..........patients have fallen due to altercations with another patient..........and eventually succumbed to the after-effects of being bedridden following a head injury or broken bone. It is extremely sad how vulnerable these loved ones are.
This scares me to death. Life Care Communities are very expensive - buy in - facilities ($300,000 + in addition to monthly fees) and they should have more caregivers close at hand to re-direct situations that cause such tragedies. If they had had altercations prior, the wrestler should have been watched much closer. His natural reaction would be a 'body slam', or whatever they call it. This is just too sad!, for everyone.
I know I'm not any different than the most of the people on this site, but I plan on keeping DH at home with me as long as I can physically take care of him. I sure wouldn't want to be by myself. And I just plain don't know how he would handle it either.
I agree Mawzy. No one could love him as much as I do and tending to an AP needs to be tempered with lots of love. (and lots of help). I want him with me as much as possible,...I'd rather hire someone to come in to care for him.
Of course we would - but then we reach the point where Bluedaze and Nikki got to, and know that sometimes our physical capabilities are no longer good enough. We hope, but we have to take each day as it comes and deal with it to the best of our abilities. We have to hold on to our health and sanity too.
Mary, we have to take very good care of our own health and sanity so that we will be able to care for our LOs. But, age does take it's toll and some people have debilitating problems and then can't physically do the work. i pray I don't have to deal with that.
I just spoke to my daughter. She works for a large nursing home chain. The case of the wrestler who killed a dementia resident is being discussed. Question: should a person who was a wrestler 40 years ago, or a Green Beret be considered a potential risk for violence and denied admission to a dementia facility. We would really appreciate opinions.
As a blanket decision - no. Each has to be dealt with individually. There are people who have no history of violent/aggressive behavior in the past whom this disease (and others) will turn them into 'rambo's'. These people deemed and have shown a history of aggressive/dangerous business will need a separate section to be. It will be very hard to decide how to treat this, handle them, and where to put them if different.
I was also interested in the story about the wrestler throwing the man to the floor. I would bet that wasn't his first time to have a melt down/anger situation. I don't know if we could ever say, No former wrestlers, trained Navy Seals, Army Green Berets, Special Forces, boxers, steer wranglers,professional athletes, former MOB Hit men, .... get my drift?... What we can do is be VERY VERY sure that if our LO's are in a facility where one of those people live, we would be allowed to confirm they are not aggressive and if they have ever been so, are dealt with accordingly. "There should be a 3 strike and you're out rule". A guy in my Caregivers' group has said that he pops in the NH at all hours of the day and early evening and has become a regular in the office of the Social Worker, voicing his concerns. He has learned that the squeeky wheel definitely gets the grease. I hate knowing that, but apparently that's the way it is.
My friends Mom who never would use a cuss word in her whole life, cusses now like a sailor. She is in a NH for eight years now. So you just never know how they will behave.
Charlotte, are you saying that the former wrestler threw someone else in the nursing home down on the floor in a body slam? The nursing home should have done something about that, then. Wonder what's going on with him now. Is he still in the same NH?
this is a comment by the daughter of the guy who was slammed: Hennig added that the two men had clashed previously. “I don’t really know any details, but obviously it was not as severe as this,” she said.
But the whole story is unknown. IMO he should have been watched more closely or isolated IF dangerous altercations had happened before.
My FIL had AD. He was in a NH. He 88 years old and only weighed 140 lbs. Never violent in his life. He saw a little grayhaired lady in the room across the hall. He apparently thought it was his wife of 63 years. She had only been gone 3 months and in his dementia couldn't understand where she was. He thought this lady was her. The story we got was that he went in to her room, rushed her, grabbed her in an embrace and tried to crawl into her bed.
He was taken to Western Washington State Hospital where he stayed for 3 weeks being evaluated. That poor guy was so confused and upset. They had him locked up.
Perhaps that's what they should do with obviously aggresive patients.
He was released after 3 weeks and another NH took him. He lived there until he died 3 years later. Sad situation.
Actually I have heard stories like that before - confusing someone else for their spouse. It is sad and unfortunate, but they should have known without sending him to Western WA State Hospital. I would not wish that place on anyone! That is so sad for him and you his family and the lady.
Maybe 20 years ago my stepmother was in a nursing home, dying but slowly. My dad had died; I was far away. They didn't separate out dementia patients then. A little old man kept coming in her room on an almost nightly basis and she'd call the nurses, then he'd come in the next day. She HATED IT!!!
There are too many sides to this story. I don't think that a former wrestler, Navy Seal, marine, etc. should necessarily be isolated if they have AD. There are several stories that talk about people who had been agressive their whole lives and became very sweet and gentle with the disease. Having been on the receiving side of an aggressive AD person and watched what they did to him in a psych ward, I am not so sure that is the best answer either. Isolating or limiting contact with others until the right drug combination is found does work - problem is that it often takes a while to find the right combination and you never know when a person might turn aggressive.
Unfortunately, we really don't know the whole story with this one going by what was in the papers.