David Brooks, "Respect the Future": Dealing With Alzheimer's Disease

It was over 30 years ago that the help who tended to my mother's parents, both of whom suffered from Alzheimer's disease, couldn't reach Manhattan owing to a transit strike, and so, for a few days, I watched after them. Tending to them full-time differed from the occasional visit, when I could make light of their crazed thoughts and share ice cream with them. Suddenly, I was immersed in a nightmare world in which my grandmother attempted to light the lamps with a match and furiously attacked my grandfather with a frying pan, putting holes in their bedroom door. My grandfather, who couldn't understand anything she was saying and who sought desperately to escape her fury, was also relieving himself in various corners of their apartment.

My family was lucky: We could afford help for my grandparents, whose mental conditions only deteriorated with time. Others in similar circumstances do not have the means to pay for assistance.

Today, in a New York Times op-ed entitled "Respect the Future" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/opinion/brooks-respect-the-future.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss), David Brooks describes a man whose wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and initially took pride in caring for her. Later, he killed his wife and then himself. Brooks writes:

"Our job is not to determine who is worthy of life, but how to make the most of the life we have been given.

. . . .

If you look at life through the calculus of autonomy, then maybe Snelling made the right call. Maybe his moments of pain from here on out would have outnumbered his moments of pleasure. But if you look at a life as one element within a mysterious flow, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that [the husband and wife] still had a few ripples to create."

Here, I disagree with Brooks. "Make the most of the life we have been given" for me is a platitude. Persons with severe Alzheimer's still have "a few ripples to create"? Sorry, but I don't view the value of life in terms of making, or not making, "ripples." Also, I do not engage in calculating moments of pain versus moments of pleasure.

No, I would not have assisted my grandparents put an end to their existence, but that is the personal view of someone who could freely walk into and out of what remained of their lives. I do not pass judgment on others who are forced to witness 24 hours a day the progression of this cruel disease.

Me? If I coldly examine the genetics (my father's parents did not suffer from Alzheimer's or senile dementia), it seems that I have a 50% chance of contracting the disease. I have witnessed enough dying during my life, and if I sense the advent of this condition, I will know how to handle the matter.

There is hope of important new medicines, but I am also pessimistic in this regard. Those who read this blog know of my involvement in the discovery of new therapeutics, and I am privileged to work with several small companies which, I believe, will revolutionize the world of medicine. However, I am also a witness to the futility of most drug research being conducted by Big Pharma or funded by the NIH, which consumes billions of dollars annually with little to show for the money.