There's been a lot of interest in the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa. The autopsies have been done and we know or can guess what happened and it is damned sad. ABC News has the story.
Hackman, 95, died of cardiovascular and Alzheimer's disease likely around Feb. 18, about one week after his wife died from a rare syndrome, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, on about Feb. 11, officials said.
Arakawa, 65, died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease transmitted through rodent urine, droppings or saliva, officials said.
Reading between the lines, Hackman was out of touch with reality, his much younger wife was caring for him at home, and they were relatively isolated from neighbors and local friends. She got sick and died, he wasn't able to call for help. With her dead, he wasn't fed and watered so he died several days later, alone and forgotten.
This could happen anytime an elderly couple is hanging on, caring for each other, and the healthier one dies while the more shot-down one is left to die from lack of care, having been unable to get help for the sick partner.
There are older couples everywhere thinking, "Could that happen to us? Are we at risk?" It's a wake up call for sure.
