80yr old Alzheimer's patient abandoned at KDEN

[MikeD]

Wow. Some cruel people in the world alright, even to family...


An eighty-year-old man from Fort Myers with Alzheimer's disease was found wandering alone at the airport in Denver a few months ago, according to TV station 9News in Denver. The station reported that a United Airlines supervisor found the man confused and alone with his small dog. When a United employee looked up the woman who checked him into his flight, they ended up talking to his daughter in Fort Myers.

His daughter told the United employee she was "done with her father," and did not want to be contacted again, according to a police report.

Police determined that the man's daughter had put him on a one-way flight to Denver, intending for his estranged wife to pick him up and care for him. When they tracked down his wife, she refused to pick her husband, according to the police report. Officers were left with no choice but to call an ambulance, which took him to a nearby hospital. (continued)

Link:

SWFL Alzheimer's patient found alone in Denver

 

[NickH]

Wow. Some cruel people in the world alright, even to family...


An eighty-year-old man from Fort Myers with Alzheimer's disease was found wandering alone at the airport in Denver a few months ago, according to TV station 9News in Denver. The station reported that a United Airlines supervisor found the man confused and alone with his small dog. When a United employee looked up the woman who checked him into his flight, they ended up talking to his daughter in Fort Myers.

His daughter told the United employee she was "done with her father," and did not want to be contacted again, according to a police report.

Police determined that the man's daughter had put him on a one-way flight to Denver, intending for his estranged wife to pick him up and care for him. When they tracked down his wife, she refused to pick her husband, according to the police report. Officers were left with no choice but to call an ambulance, which took him to a nearby hospital. (continued)

Link:

SWFL Alzheimer's patient found alone in Denver

I thought this was going to be another thread with someone demanding the mandatory retirement age be raised.

 

[A Life Aloft]

This is one of the most heartless acts that I have ever seen/ heard of. Sadly there are people on this earth with no morals, no values, no conscience and no compassion. I tried looking on line to see what has become of Mr. Ellingsen. He stayed in the hospital for 6 months and then was released. The hospital won't say to where. All of his relatives say they have no idea where he is. This is just unbelievable. I don't even know what happened to his little dog Corky who was apparently the only being on this entire planet who loved him. This is just so terribly wrong and so appalling.

 

[NovemberEcho]

From my days as a little kid, when my grandmother, grandfather and great uncle on my mom’s side all had real bad Alzheimer’s I’ve been absolutely terrified of that disease. It is one of the most heart breaking things to watch when a mother doesn’t recognize her kids, or in the case of my uncle he thought he was back in 1939 Germany and beat the chit out of a doctor and couple nurses trying to escape the nursing home.

 

[Murdoughnut]

This is one of the most heartless acts that I have ever seen/ heard of. Sadly there are people on this earth with no morals, no values, no conscience and no compassion. I tried looking on line to see what has become of Mr. Ellingsen. He stayed in the hospital for 6 months and then was released. The hospital won't say to where. All of his relatives say they have no idea where he is. This is just unbelievable. I don't even know what happened to his little dog Corky who was apparently the only being on this entire planet who loved him. This is just so terribly wrong and so appalling.



View attachment 46033

It is, but at the same time, I can imagine someone eventually losing it after having to all of a sudden babysit a entirely codependent adult who probably has no idea who you are - particularly if it becomes financially devastating as well. It’s the same for these parents who snap and smother with a pillow their severely austistic or otherwise utterly disabled kids. It’s absolutely awful, but I’d be lying if I said I could, in any way, imagine what that does to a person. Maybe this is simply a heartless and evil act, or perhaps the last act of a severely desparate and redourceless loved one.

 

[A Life Aloft]

It is, but at the same time, I can imagine someone eventually losing it after having to all of a sudden babysit a entirely codependent adult who probably has no idea who you are - particularly if it becomes financially devastating as well. It’s the same for these parents who snap and smother with a pillow their severely austistic or otherwise utterly disabled kids. It’s absolutely awful, but I’d be lying if I said I could, in any way, imagine what that does to a person. Maybe this is simply a heartless and evil act, or perhaps the last act of a severely desparate and redourceless loved one.

Sometimes in life, one has to rise above their own needs and do what is right and what is needed, no matter how tiring, how difficult, how much of a burden and how it seems almost impossible. You learn to cope. He took care of his helpless baby girl, made the sacrifices and adjustments and provided for her as a child for many years until she was grown. Yet she cannot be bothered to do the same or even seek out help and resources for her Father so that he is cared for. What lesson is she teaching her own children with this hideous, inexcusable behavior? Who in the hell takes their Father who is seriously ill, to an airport and just abandons him? How she can sleep at night or look at herself in the mirror is beyond me. His little dog was more loyal and more faithful than his own family.

 

[drunkenbeagle]

Yet she cannot be bothered to do the same or even seek out help and resources for her Father so that he is cared for. Who in the hell takes their Father who is ill, to an airport and just abandons him?

Well, we are assuming she was in a position to do so. For all we know, she could be just as ill.

 

[A Life Aloft]

Well, we are assuming she was in a position to do so. For all we know, she could be just as ill.

From what I researched on line about him, not according to those who know her and the police who contacted her. Everyone was appalled. She was even tracked down at her job and refused to answer any questions. At one point she told the Police to just take him to a homeless shelter.

 

[texas_pilot]

Curious how the dog transferred to reunite w the man just wandering airport.

 

[A Life Aloft]

Curious how the dog transferred to reunite w the man just wandering airport.

His daughter put him and his little dog on a one way flight to Denver. The dog must have been in a carrier and rode with him in the cabin.

 

[derg]

I don’t know, it certainly sounds like elder abuse.

But I’ll bet she’ll have her cup out for an inheritance or to fight with the probate attorney.

 

[FloridaLarry]

Emotional support dog:
Emotional support daughter:

 

[AAPalmTree]

I thought this was going to be another thread with someone demanding the mandatory retirement age be raised.

BOOOOOM!!!!

 

[bucksmith]

Well, we are assuming she was in a position to do so. For all we know, she could be just as ill.

They did mention Florida.
(No offense Gully)

 

[ChasenSFO]

Uh, what?

Though I'll admit, both my grandparents got bad dementia and Alzheimer's for the last 10 years or so they were around, and I can totally see how a person with their own mental/stress limitations would pass the brink of crazy and do something like this. It should never happen, but I'd be interested to hear if she was taking care of her father alone and just couldn't bear all her free time raising him like a child. My grandpa used to try to just go randomly walking away or try to drive years after never touching a car, also had to basically child proof the house because he'd eat dog food, tide pods, anything. He also had his wife die next to him after 60+ years of marriage and forgot the same evening that she ever existed, didn't even recognize pictures, or even who we were by then. To watch someone go from a badass ex-WWII Marine/Cheif of Police to that is cruel. I can't imagine one person trying to handle all that and have any kind of a life or profession. Just the mental aspect of accepting the new reality, forgetting all the daily care and sacrifices, would be too much for many people.

This is one of the most heartless acts that I have ever seen/ heard of. Sadly there are people on this earth with no morals, no values, no conscience and no compassion. I tried looking on line to see what has become of Mr. Ellingsen. He stayed in the hospital for 6 months and then was released. The hospital won't say to where. All of his relatives say they have no idea where he is. This is just unbelievable. I don't even know what happened to his little dog Corky who was apparently the only being on this entire planet who loved him. This is just so terribly wrong and so appalling.



View attachment 46033

You can really see the bond between him and his dog in that photo.

 

[Adler]

But I thought interviewers at the majors were tired of hearing "I once pushed a wheelchair" when asked "tell me about a time you went above and beyond..."

 

[Stone Cold]

All I'll say is alzheimer's is a very evil disease. My wife and her mom have been dealing with it for years with my father in law. My wife grossed me out today with the daily story of the happenings of dealing with alzheimer's. I won't go into detail. Just hope you never have to deal with it.

 

[Stone Cold]

Sometimes in life, one has to rise above their own needs and do what is right and what is needed, no matter how tiring, how difficult, how much of a burden and how it seems almost impossible. You learn to cope. He took care of his helpless baby girl, made the sacrifices and adjustments and provided for her as a child for many years until she was grown. Yet she cannot be bothered to do the same or even seek out help and resources for her Father so that he is cared for. What lesson is she teaching her own children with this hideous, inexcusable behavior? Who in the hell takes their Father who is seriously ill, to an airport and just abandons him? How she can sleep at night or look at herself in the mirror is beyond me. His little dog was more loyal and more faithful than his own family.

I am not defending her, as I don't know the story. I will only ask, what is your personal involvement with people afflicted with alzheimer's? Have you been a primary care giver for somebody afflicted? If not, please don't opine, as you really, truly, have not seen what this does to people. If you have, you should have more compassion, as you've seen what happens to people.

Once again, I don't know all the details, and I hope to never know all of them. Yes, I'm intimately familiar with the disease. It's a horrible disease, and even the best intentioned care givers, or well-wishers have no clue what primary caregivers go through.

Let ye cast the first stone or some crap.

 

[Boris Badenov]

My grandmother had it. Between the entire family, including her absurdly devoted husband, who almost certainly hastened his own death by a decade, we just barely kept it together. Screaming in the middle of the night, what seemed like *calculated* unkindness (had she been able to calculate), attempts to wander off...BITING. If you haven't experienced it, you really just don't know. Now, obviously, we wouldn't have abandoned my grandmother in an airport, but then that's not exactly what happened here, either, is it. I'd humbly suggest we all put the outrage bus in Park. Perhaps a good idea in general.

 

[Murdoughnut]

I would hope that by the time I'm old enough to contract this disease, that I would (if afflicted) have the option of doctor assisted suicide. Worse than the thought of losing my mental capacities is the thought of my wife and kids being burdened by my disease for years, possibly decades.