He should have had a staff of four nurses, each working 12 hours/day and 4 on and 4 off.
It is possible the wife tried but Hackman nixed it.
Hackman and his wife apparently preferred privacy to the tabloid coverage and clustering about of scheming relatives that would have ensued had his Alzheimer’s diagnosis become known. That being so, they declined to engage a staff of potentially talkative home care nurses even though that would have made good sense. After all, they had made it so far by themselves, so why not wait a little longer? And but for the Hanta virus, Hackman and his wife might still be in their home.
I bet he didn’t want people around in any capacity. It is hard to bring strangers into the home even for short daily support. The dementia makes adding nurses difficult for the individual. They just want to exit life their way.
Quite possible.
There are legal routes you can go, but can be expensive and stressful, for patient and/or caregiver.
Since money doesn’t seem to have been a problem, I’m thinking there were other reasons she didn’t do that.