This weekend I got to see my friend Deb, who I don't see nearly as often as I wish I could. She stopped by the dog performance event that I was at, even though this weekend she didn't have a dog with her, but instead some paperwork relating to clubs and dogs.
I feel badly for her, her elderly father is very ill, and has a very short time to live. Over the weekend, the family was trying to make hospice care arrangements for him. Among other health problems complicating those arrangements were the increasingly difficult problem of his dementia, as well as trying to help family members understand ALL of the issues involved. But the most difficult problem was that none of the other families members properly understood the nature of the problems with dementia in the elderly, or neurological problems generally.
Alzheimer's is the most commonly recognized dementia, but there are many others which more commonly affect the elderly compared to younger / early onset. Depression is often associated with these neurological problems, and changes in not only memory, but cognitive function and even significant changes in personality can occur, depending on what parts of the brain are involved in the deterioration.
But on top of this for my friend was dealing with a sibling who was demonstrating an increasing problem with bi-polar mental illness that had gone from minor symptoms to major incapacitation. The sibling was visiting from another part of the country, was being combative in dealing with the elderly parent, and was likely going to require an additional family intervention, including preventing the sibling from harming themself or someone else while driving. The sibling had been pulled over multiple times in transit across country to Minnesota by law enforcement for seriously erratic driving and being mistaken for driving while severely intoxicated.
To digress for a moment, I heard two related stories from the radio. One was a news item, about self-driving cars being authorized in California. The other was the NPR weekend programming, 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me'. One of the segments on Wait Wait required the contestants to identify what news story of three was real, from two equally improbable stories were made up.
The real story of the three involved the massive problem in Florida of people crashing their vehicles through the walls and windows of post offices. In Florida, the problem became so acute, mostly because of problems with elderly drivers. There appear to have been approximately 14 such crashes, with 8 of them occurring in central Florida alone. One of the accidents involved an elderly woman who thought she saw a possible UFO, or something shiny, coming down out of the sky, and drove through the side of the building. The majority of the accidents however involved people making a common mistake found among elderly drivers, involving either physical coordination or confusion between which is the pedals for the break and accelerator. Difficulties with vision appear to be a complicating factor.
When I heard this was Florida, with more than 4 million drivers older drivers, the issues of physical and mental impairment immediately caused me to wonder how many of these drivers who were unwilling to surrender their keys when they were no longer capable of driving safely would be willing to do so with their firearms.
The state takes away driving privileges when seniors can no longer pass their eye test; no one has an eye test or a state authority to do so with firearms. USA Today ran an article on the problem back in 2007; and the WaPo had this about elderly drivers:
Elderly Drivers Cause More Deadly Crashes than Teens
Two examples include an 86-year-old man who drove his automobile into
a crowded farmers’ market in California, killing 10 people. And in one
recent year in Florida - the U.S. state with the largest per capita
elderly population - drivers over 80 plowed into a Chinese restaurant,
post office and state official’s office.
George
Weller drove the car that crashed into a farmers’ market crowd, killing
10. Because of his age, a judge sentenced him to five years’ probation,
not jail time.
A Los Angeles jury recently decided that Dr. Arthur Daigneault was not responsible for the wrongful death of 90-year-old William Powers, whose longtime partner, a dementia patient, drove into the path of an oncoming car, according to a report by The Los Angeles Times. The driver Lorraine Sullivan, 85, survived, but Powers died of his injuries weeks after the crash.
The Orange County, Calif. jury cleared Daigneault, but the case raises the question of whether the physician should have reported his patient -- who had suffered memory loss since 2007 and was prescribed an Alzheimer’s drug in 2009 -- to local health authorities or urged the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke her license
The victim’s family thought Daigneault should have done something. They sued him for wrongful death, arguing that he should have deemed the driver, a danger on the road and gotten her driver’s license yanked.
Daigneault, who had been involved in taking away driver's licenses from other patients he had seen, said that he did not think Sullivan’s condition was severe enough to warrant doing so in her case.
It is difficult to effectively deal with the various impairments of the aging population, but there are very real dangers TO the members of the aging demographic, and the dangers to everyone else FROM the aging demographic. Those problems with the impaired elderly are similar in many respects to the problems of dealing with the dangers of firearms and vehicles when there are dangers involving the mentally ill. We need to find ways that are fair to everyone, to address these problems; but they DO need to be addressed, sooner than later. We have the mass shootings by those who are mentally ill as examples, from the James Holmes Aurora, Colorado mass shooting to the more recent mass shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota this past week.
Expect a fight from those who are most likely to be found to be impaired and dangerous, and be aware in that context that those who are affected do not necessarily decline at a steady rate, but can worsen drastically relatively suddenly. We have a problem, and it is not getting smaller.
In the case of vehicles, a potential solution is that in places like California, they have begun to authorize self-driving cars on their roads. That could be a potential solution for the impaired elderly driver; those vehicles are less likely to get lost, disoriented, or to make the same driving errors.
I can't think of an equivalent technical or mechanical solution for firearms that would address the elderly who are effectively blind and deaf, or who are having problems with memory and reasoning, or dementia, or a solution that would deal with the problems of the dangerously mentally ill committing mass shootings.
I feel badly for her, her elderly father is very ill, and has a very short time to live. Over the weekend, the family was trying to make hospice care arrangements for him. Among other health problems complicating those arrangements were the increasingly difficult problem of his dementia, as well as trying to help family members understand ALL of the issues involved. But the most difficult problem was that none of the other families members properly understood the nature of the problems with dementia in the elderly, or neurological problems generally.
Alzheimer's is the most commonly recognized dementia, but there are many others which more commonly affect the elderly compared to younger / early onset. Depression is often associated with these neurological problems, and changes in not only memory, but cognitive function and even significant changes in personality can occur, depending on what parts of the brain are involved in the deterioration.
But on top of this for my friend was dealing with a sibling who was demonstrating an increasing problem with bi-polar mental illness that had gone from minor symptoms to major incapacitation. The sibling was visiting from another part of the country, was being combative in dealing with the elderly parent, and was likely going to require an additional family intervention, including preventing the sibling from harming themself or someone else while driving. The sibling had been pulled over multiple times in transit across country to Minnesota by law enforcement for seriously erratic driving and being mistaken for driving while severely intoxicated.
To digress for a moment, I heard two related stories from the radio. One was a news item, about self-driving cars being authorized in California. The other was the NPR weekend programming, 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me'. One of the segments on Wait Wait required the contestants to identify what news story of three was real, from two equally improbable stories were made up.
The real story of the three involved the massive problem in Florida of people crashing their vehicles through the walls and windows of post offices. In Florida, the problem became so acute, mostly because of problems with elderly drivers. There appear to have been approximately 14 such crashes, with 8 of them occurring in central Florida alone. One of the accidents involved an elderly woman who thought she saw a possible UFO, or something shiny, coming down out of the sky, and drove through the side of the building. The majority of the accidents however involved people making a common mistake found among elderly drivers, involving either physical coordination or confusion between which is the pedals for the break and accelerator. Difficulties with vision appear to be a complicating factor.
When I heard this was Florida, with more than 4 million drivers older drivers, the issues of physical and mental impairment immediately caused me to wonder how many of these drivers who were unwilling to surrender their keys when they were no longer capable of driving safely would be willing to do so with their firearms.
The state takes away driving privileges when seniors can no longer pass their eye test; no one has an eye test or a state authority to do so with firearms. USA Today ran an article on the problem back in 2007; and the WaPo had this about elderly drivers:
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say crash deaths per mile traveled begin to increase markedly after age 75 with deterioration in vision and the ability to reason and remember, as well as the rise of physical challenges such as arthritis and reduced strength.And the Voice of America noted a little over a year ago:
Elderly Drivers Cause More Deadly Crashes than Teens
Study finds fatality rate for drivers over 85 is four times higher than for teenagers
In every case, the elderly driver told police that he or she confused the gas and brake pedals.
All of these drivers had passed written and visual tests. None fell asleep at the wheel, had been drinking, or was taking strong medications.
All of these drivers had passed written and visual tests. None fell asleep at the wheel, had been drinking, or was taking strong medications.
Few elderly drivers willingly hand over their keys. Their car is their ultimate, treasured symbol of independence and freedom.
But current research suggests that it is complex processing skills, ... that are the root cause of
dangerous driving. (my emphasis added - DG)
MSN.com ran this recent article about doctors helping to take away driving privileges from elderly patients with dementia. It is a little startling to realize that there are a lot of people suffering from Alzheimer's or other dementia, who are legally allowed to drive. It is equally startling to realize there is no vision test for gun owners of any age, but certainly none specifically for elderly people, and there is no provision for doctors addressing the issue of firearms competency for dementia or physical incapacity either.
Keep in mind, in that context, the archtype of the NRA member is old, white, flabby and crabby; keep in mind that the states with the largest gun nut cultures and the most lax gun laws are also sun belt states like Florida, Texas and Arizona that have huge numbers of elderly residents, year round or part time. And southern states already have much greater issues of violent assault, especially with firearms, than the rest of the country. When the issue of pediatricians talking about firearms came up, Florida tried to make it criminal to ask about firearms, despite the fact that we have more deaths and injuries of children from firearms in this country a number of times over, than all of the other developed countries combined.
Can you imagine the ruckus if we bring up the issue of firearms and the safety of everyone where the elderly are concerned? The NRA will freak even more over that idea, than where the issue of child safety is involved. That doesn't change the need to deal with current and increasing future problems of the elderly relating to dementia, diminished capacity and competency (both mental and physical) with both fireams and driving. Factor in the issues of depression associated with aging and dementia, and you have a potent mix.
In August 2012, a 100 year old driver ran over 11 people with his cadillac, according to the Mercury News:
Click photo to enlarge
A young victim is treated by Los Angeles city firefighters after a car... ( Mark J. Terrill )
LOS ANGELES -- The screams of women and children didn't cause a 100-year-old driver to stop as he backed his large powder blue Cadillac onto a sidewalk across from an elementary school and hit 11 people, including nine children.
So people began pounding on his windows screaming for him to stop, a witness said.
Alma Solache said she was buying her children an afterschool snack Wednesday just before the accident outside a South Los Angeles school.
"He was not paying attention," said Solache, 24, adding that it was at least two or three seconds before the vehicle halted and people began pulling children out from beneath the car..
..Carter was pulling out of the grocery store parking lot, but instead of backing into the street, he backed onto the sidewalk, police Capt. George Rodriguez said.In reading the article, I noticed Mr. Carter claimed his brakes failed; that does not explain how he ended up going backwards instead of forwards....and it appears his brakes did eventually stop the car after enough screaming and pounding on his windows took place. The article went on to note:
"I think it was a miscalculation on his part. The gentleman is elderly," Rodriguez said. "Obviously he is going to have some impairment on his decision making."
Elderly drivers have been involved in other tragedies. In 2003, an 86-year-old man mistakenly stepped on the gas pedal of his car instead of the brake and then panicked, plowing into an open-air market in Santa Monica. Ten people were killed and 63 injured.
And then we have the issue of who, if anyone can intervene when someone becomes dangerous to themselves and others, and how.
Elderly drivers and fatal accidents: Is the doctor responsible?
Should a physician be held responsible if an elderly patient causes a car accident while driving?A Los Angeles jury recently decided that Dr. Arthur Daigneault was not responsible for the wrongful death of 90-year-old William Powers, whose longtime partner, a dementia patient, drove into the path of an oncoming car, according to a report by The Los Angeles Times. The driver Lorraine Sullivan, 85, survived, but Powers died of his injuries weeks after the crash.
The Orange County, Calif. jury cleared Daigneault, but the case raises the question of whether the physician should have reported his patient -- who had suffered memory loss since 2007 and was prescribed an Alzheimer’s drug in 2009 -- to local health authorities or urged the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke her license
The victim’s family thought Daigneault should have done something. They sued him for wrongful death, arguing that he should have deemed the driver, a danger on the road and gotten her driver’s license yanked.
Daigneault, who had been involved in taking away driver's licenses from other patients he had seen, said that he did not think Sullivan’s condition was severe enough to warrant doing so in her case.
It is difficult to effectively deal with the various impairments of the aging population, but there are very real dangers TO the members of the aging demographic, and the dangers to everyone else FROM the aging demographic. Those problems with the impaired elderly are similar in many respects to the problems of dealing with the dangers of firearms and vehicles when there are dangers involving the mentally ill. We need to find ways that are fair to everyone, to address these problems; but they DO need to be addressed, sooner than later. We have the mass shootings by those who are mentally ill as examples, from the James Holmes Aurora, Colorado mass shooting to the more recent mass shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota this past week.
Expect a fight from those who are most likely to be found to be impaired and dangerous, and be aware in that context that those who are affected do not necessarily decline at a steady rate, but can worsen drastically relatively suddenly. We have a problem, and it is not getting smaller.
In the case of vehicles, a potential solution is that in places like California, they have begun to authorize self-driving cars on their roads. That could be a potential solution for the impaired elderly driver; those vehicles are less likely to get lost, disoriented, or to make the same driving errors.
I can't think of an equivalent technical or mechanical solution for firearms that would address the elderly who are effectively blind and deaf, or who are having problems with memory and reasoning, or dementia, or a solution that would deal with the problems of the dangerously mentally ill committing mass shootings.
No comments:
Post a Comment