Man, 88, charged in wife's killing - feared she wouldn't receive care after he died

FORT SMITH, Ark. - Authorities say George Hastings, 88, shot and killed his wife, Hazel Hastings, because he feared that she would be left without adequate care after his death.

Ms. Hastings, 84, had Alzheimer's disease, and Mr. Hastings has terminal cancer, police said.

After Mr. Hastings phoned 911 to tell police he'd shot his wife, police arrived and found her body. Mr. Hastings had shot himself twice. He was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder and taken to St. Edward Mercy Medical Center. He suffered two .22-caliber gunshot wounds to his head and was in critical condition Tuesday, hospital officials said.

"This is just a real sad case," said Jarrard Copeland of the Fort Smith Police Department. "Your heart goes out to both of them. He's 88 years old. She's 84 years old. It's just sad. What can you say?"

Not all nursing homes are horrible. I work in one as a CNA and just last week the State came to check us out. They spend almost a week auditing. We only had 3 citations - things we need to fix.

For instance, the nurse aids work our behinds off to make sure the residents are clean and reposition them every 2 hours so pressure sores don't occur. If we start seeing a break in the skin right away, we start treatment procedures.

Nevertheless, it still is sad to see elderly (especially the ones who still are still mentally alert) so thoroughly dependent on others for basic human needs - safety, hygiene, feeding, toileting and ambulation. These are people who are unable to do for themselves because of strokes, arthritis that has crippled them, Parkinson's, and other diseases that afflict the elderly. A few have neurological diseases (and are in their 40's and 50's) and all they can do is lay there while their bodies lose the ability to move arms, legs, talk, breathe and have to use feeding tubes to eat.

So after having seen up close and personal how our bodies can fail us, I often think to myself that if and when I get like that, I may refuse medicine or help and let my Lord and Savior take me home. I'm not sure I agree with suicide that many elderly decide to do (because of my religious beliefs), but now I sure understand why they chose that route.

What that man did was out of fear, pure and simple.

Our medicinal advances have helped us to live longer, but too often the quality of our lives is just breathing existence - not much more.

Not all nursing homes are horrible. I work in one as a CNA and just last week the State came to check us out. They spend almost a week auditing. We only had 3 citations

I apologize for that broad statment. I know how hard dedicated staff work and how much they care, and how underpaid they can be. Several of my father's nurses were crying and coming by to say good-bye when my father was dying. He had Alzheimers and none of them had ever had any communication from my father, so their level of genuine care and concern was touching. However he still died with a fractured leg, due to his leg being stuck in the side rail while they were turning him. The staff took proper care of him, to include pain meds, and called the family immediately.

My grandmother hated (a different) nursing home as she was an intensly private person who didn't like living with others and abhored the constant noise that some of the patients made voluntarily and involuntarily. I was living very far away during that time and was not responsible for her care and situation, and so have no other information about the care she received.

Even you will have to admit there are far too many nursing homes that are repugnant. The state I live in has had a rash of nursing home closures due to horrific crimes having been committed. This hits the newspapers and the elderly are scared. I don't blame them a bit. It doesn't matter if it's a good home or not, like you said they are afraid to give up so much, and sometimes it's their safety and well being and not just their independence.

No need to apologize - there are horror stories and during training, we were shown video tape of some abuses.

I took this job because I want to get into health care in some capacity - nursing, technician, sonography or something and believed that in the meantime while in school I should work in the field.

It is extremely hard and stressful work. I've been punched and spit at by Alzheimer patients. Some residents' arms and legs are so contracted from diseases such as arthritus that I am drenched in sweat after I am done getting them undressed and into bed (like working with a corpse in rigor mortis). Most residents don't care that you have 13 other women to get fed, pottied, undressed, washed and put to bed, but I can't blame them.

I really do feel alot of tenderness for them - alot of the stress of the job comes from, as you said, low pay and short of staffing and management that spends money on foo-foo stuff instead of a better resident/aid ratio. At the place I am at, I'd say that 90% of the aids really care about the residents. And I would venture to say that most aids at other places feel the same.

In times past, we haven't had the number of elderly living so long - now we do, but we have many more people who can't take care of themselves, with sons and daughters who are working full-time and some raising children still (the sandwich generation). It's not easy to figure out what to do with our parents. Even if we put them in long term care places or assisted living, there is still their affairs to tend to. I know because my father had a major stroke 3 1/2 years ago. He has no use of his right side so I have to take care of all his financial affairs, take him to doctor's appointments because he gets mixed up when the doctor has further treatments for him, arrange for transportation to get him to places (and if you think the transportation services for the elderly are a great solution, think again - but that's another thread).

Those who still have healthy parents and haven't rubbed up close and personal to the geriatric care system, get prepared.

Well, I've babbled on enough - and I haven't even touched on the financial aspects of elderly care.

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