It is very surprising they did not have a hospice nurse there visiting regularly this is just AWFUL!!
In very severe cases people can’t remember how to eat. They have a hard time chewing and swallowing. Sometimes they need a feeding bag (some refuse that, or otherwise give directives not to), or if not, it is basically a death sentence if you can’t swallow water or get an IV drip at a minimum. 3 days give or take without water. With water/IV but no food maybe many weeks or months but getting weaker every day.
It is surprising, even though Gene had a younger wife, and children, that they were left to their own devices with nobody checking on them. If he wasn’t near the end with an obvious destructive disease, hospice care may not have been necessary but daily visits and some help with a variety of medical issues would seem to be obvious for a 95 year old man with heart condition and Alzheimer’s. I can only guess she didn’t want it but that’s total speculation on my part. Some have speculated that they may not have had the money, I don’t know it’s possible that as an actor who retired apx 2 decades ago maybe he ran out of income, but that is a beautiful house I am sure it could have been refinanced or reverse mortgage type deal to fund his last years. He had an apartment in Manhattan at one point as I recall when he started writing fiction (after acting). In his 80’s he got hit by a car while bike riding. He was a tough cookie, active, typical of his generation. God bless them all. He deserved better, however none of us control the very end though we may try, if we live long enough and frail enough we fall at the mercy and whims of others.