Exhausted by the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease from which his wife suffered, a 90-year-old man shot her before turning the gun on himself.
The news item recalls the suffering of caregivers. On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, in Boissy-le-Châtel (Seine-et-Marne), a 90-year-old man shot and killed his wife, reports The Parisian. The 88-year-old woman had Alzheimer’s disease, and would have asked him to put an end to his suffering.
The nonagenarian, after killing his wife, called the police around midnight on the night of Wednesday to Thursday to confess his act, and expressed on the telephone his wish to end his life. “It’s a human tragedy, deplores Guy Dhorbait, the mayor of this village of 3,000 inhabitants located near Coulommiers. According to the words of that night, the husband wanted to put an end to his wife’s suffering. They were a very old couple. Surely they wanted to die together. »
As the police were on their way to his home, the old man tried to turn his gun on himself. When they arrived, paramedics found him seriously injured in the face. He was rushed to Pitié-Salpêtrière, and his life is not in danger.
Isolation of caregivers
According to the daily, he would have confided the same day, at the local café where he went regularly, the state of exhaustion in which he was. Aware of the need to place his wife in a specialized institution, he nevertheless refused to do so.
In Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 900,000 people, caregivers are often spouses. According to the France Alzheimer association, they spend an average of 6.5 hours a day with the sick. They are at risk of physical and moral exhaustion. In 30% of cases, carers die before the person they care for. Aid is available for day-to-day management, but sometimes remains geographically or financially inaccessible.
A support number has been set up by France Alzheimer and related diseases: 0 811 112 112. In particular, it allows you to contact nearby associations.
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