When should Alzheimer's patients stop driving?

By Lauran Neergaard

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14 Comments

sharky1 at 08:19 AM JST - 9th April

They should definitely stop driving when they start forgetting where they are going. There have been several documented cases of alzheimers sufferers both forgetting where they are going, and forgetting how to return home. When they are driving a vehicle, it makes locating them much more difficult.
TokyoXtreme at 11:07 AM JST - 9th April

This headline sounds like the setup of a joke. The punchline might be "I'm sorry, what were we just talking about?"
smartacus at 11:13 AM JST - 9th April

My mother was furious when we took her car keys away from her. She threatened to cut my and my brothers and sisters out of her will, leave home, buy a new car, etc. At the time, she was 74 and had been suffering Alzheimer's for two years. It was very distressing for everyone. Yet, I know other people whose elderly relatives realized themselves that they could no longer drive safely. Those persons were able to accept early on that they had Alzheimer's, not an easy thing to admit to oneself.
bushlover at 12:37 PM JST - 9th April

How about when they become Alzheimer's patients.
dennis0bauer at 03:13 PM JST - 9th April

It will resolve it self at one time they will forget which car is theirs
knackerz at 04:22 PM JST - 9th April

Can someone please remind me what Alzheimer’s disease is?
sharky1 at 05:08 PM JST - 9th April

bushlover...problem is, the only way to be 100% sure that someone has alzheimers is by performing an autopsy.
the_sicilian at 07:10 PM JST - 9th April

Immediately.

Anything else would be a crime.

Ciao
usaexpat at 11:10 PM JST - 9th April

Uh, by the time someone is showing enough outward symptoms to be diagnosed it's time for them to stop driving.
cuddles2009 at 01:17 AM JST - 10th April

They will stop driving once they forget where they parked the car.

Hehehehe
sharky1 at 02:39 AM JST - 10th April

alzheimer's disease is a pathological form of dementia. Basically, it causes a breakdown of synaptic activity in the brain.
tophercdn at 07:00 PM JST - 10th April

It's difficult enough trying to get an older family member to go in for Alzheimer's testing. No one wants to hear that they are going to slow lose their mind and them die from it. Family members and the doctor of the individual need to carefully explain and reason with the family member who has this horrific disease. Abruptly taking something like this or anything else away can have a bad effect on everyone involved. I think that in most cases the individual with Alzheimer's will give up driving so they don't injure or hurt anyone, then it's in the family's hands to help with readjustment, everyone needs to play a part.
rtrhead1 at 08:10 PM JST - 10th April

it should be as soon as they are showing symptoms of the disease. yes, taking something like this away can have a bad effect, but is it any worse of an effect than someone who forgets which way to go on the expressway and get in a head on crash and kills someone? worse than that? no, it isn't. hurt feelings are easier to get over than death.
PaulieWalnuts at 09:50 PM JST - 10th April

surely they wouldn't be able to find their car