Tragic end
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- July
- 10
So what’s your feeling about the Dutchess County man who left his parents in a hot car for three hours while he went to work —Â and came back to find his father dead?
The more I read about the case, the more it seems a tragic error in judgment rather than a deliberate attempt at neglect.
When one parent has Alzheimer’s, it’s tough to figure out a solution that keeps that parent safe. When both are suffering from dementia, as it seems this couple was, I think it’s near impossible without getting outside support.
One great resource I’ve found is the Eldercare Locator, provided by the U.S. Administration on Aging. The site basically offers all the information you’d need to begin researching the elder-care options in your area.
Have you ever found yourself desperately searching for solutions to your own elder-care issues?
Do you think most people are sympathetic or that they really don’t care — unless they’re going through the same thing?
This entry was posted
on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 5:31 pm by Linda Lombroso.
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Baby boomer Linda Lombroso was born in Queens and grew up in Port Washington. She began her journalism career at New York Magazine and Rolling Stone, but left to pursue a master's degree in elementary education. Shortly afterward, she returned to magazines as an editor at US magazine, but again left the field, this time for the birth of her first child. Linda and her family moved from Manhattan to New Rochelle in 1988. After spending 10 years as a stay-at-home mother, she joined The Journal News as a police reporter in 1997. She's been a Life & Style writer since 2000. This is the only year her three children are teenagers at the same time, which means she undergoes a daily critique of hair, makeup and wardrobe. Her parents still live in Port Washington Ñ and they like everything she wears.
I agree with you on this one, I think it was a bad call to leave the parents in the car. But the man was doing the best he could. He had to work and take care of both parents at the same time. He just wasn’t using his common sense. What if he left them at home and they turned on the stove and forgot about it? Same thing. Where is the sympathy? Anyone who has taken care of a parent can relate, and anyone who hasn’t, has no idea. It is almost the same responsibility as having a baby, you can never leave an edlerly parent whose mind is no longer there alone for a minute.