Alzheimer's patient ordered to mental hospital

[JayS]

June 11, 2004, 10:35AM
Alzheimer's patient ordered to mental hospital
Family, lawyers can't keep him from driving
Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2622176


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A man who has Alzheimer's disease was ordered locked up at a mental hospital for criminals after he continued to drive despite a judge's order to stop. The man thinks he's a salesman and wants to go to work, his lawyer says.

Albert Brenner, 75, was being held without bond at the Broward County Jail while waiting for space at the hospital. He has previously been ordered to give up his driver's license and car keys, and the man's family and lawyers have tried to keep him from driving.

Judge Geoffrey D. Cohen said in his order Wednesday that Brenner should be held at the hospital until his mental health can be "restored," enabling him to be tried on battery charges.

*SNIP*

Cohen initially ordered Brenner not to drive as a condition of being released from jail after he was arrested twice in 2002 on battery charges involving his companion, Irene Kaplan, then 86.

*SNIP*

Despite efforts to get him to stop driving, Brenner continues because he believes he is a salesman of '70s-era rotary telephones, another lawyer, Betsy Benson, said. Friends, lawyers and family members have been unable to convince him that he no longer has to drive to work.

[FleshCartoon]

1. That's a bit harsh.

Why couldn't his family explain the situation to his doctor and get some sort of tranquilizer for him? I don't know. There's someone on DU who had a father, I believe, suffering from Alzheimer's. I can't recall who it was, but I'd love to hear his/her take on this.

I don't know whether living in a tranquilized state would be better for the poor guy, either, but certainly putting him away in a mental institution for criminal offenders can't be the answer.

[checks-n-balances]

2. That judge is showing incredible ignorance about Alzheimer's!

His statement that "Brenner should be held at the hospital until his mental health can be "restored" is just patently absurd. There is medication nowdays that some can handle which slows down the mental deterioration, but nothing so far that reverses the damage. Until more medical breakthroughs happen (stem cell research maybe?), there's no way that an Alzheimer's patient will get BETTER in any way, especially not mentally!!

I know, because my grandmother had it and my mother now has it. And with our aging population, these situations are going to happen with more frequency. This man probably doesn't know who he is and he probably didn't notice the signals, or know what to do when he was expected to pull over.

The authorities had better get an education about this disease because those who have it become less and less able to be responsible for living as normally functioning human beings.

[bratcatinok]

3. What an idiot!

This poor guy no more belongs in a mental hospital for criminals than my dog does. Even charging him with battery is asinine since alzheimers patients often become belligerent and abusive. It's a symptom of the disease!!!

He's not going to get better, ever! He needs to be placed in a rest home which is specifically designed for patients with alzheimers. He'll be able to get the care he needs with staff trained to deal with the disease.

That's what we finally had to do with my (then) father-in-law after he decided in the middle of the night to put the fire in the fireplace out with a bucket of kerosene. There just weren't enough of us to watch him 24/7.

[SoCalDem]

4. GET RID OF HIS CAR....and buy better locks for the doors

then hire someone to stay with him..

That has to be cheaper than mental hospitals >>