Two weeks ago my father went downtown to work a booth for his church for a parade. He went back to his car and said it was stolen, he reported it to the police and his insurance company. He has been taking the bus back to the residential area several times and lo and behold the car was exactly where he parked it. No damage, nothing stolen, who knows about gas and mileage. This to me means that it was never stolen in the first place and the neighbors didn't care about a car parked on the street. He is 90, lives with me, and has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Is this the disease or could his story be real? I am at my wits end.
Additionally, his neurologist wrote the State a letter stating that he does not feel my father should drive. They sent us a form for the doctor to fill out and submit and then the Medical Review Board has about 45 days to review and respond. We live in Florida, does anyone know how to speed up the process?
Wandering is an important behavior common in Alzheimer's disease that made the disease so critical to the field of search and rescue. Not only do Alzheimer's patients wander but they also easily become lost. Normal adults (who often become lost also) rely upon three intact systems to know where they are in space. Short and long term memory to identify landmarks, a sense of time and speed to judge distance, and an intact visual-spatial sense to know direction angles and expected arrival times between landmarks. All three of these systems are impaired in the Alzheimer's subject.[I would say ANY type of dementia, not just alz.] Research section,dementia wondering, search N rescue
I guess in some wild way his story could be true but I just don't think car thieves are that conscientious.
I will call the DOT and see what they say. I hate to be the "bad guy" in this but it is getting scary.
Thanks again!
I don't know of any way to speed up the review process, but I'm certainly glad they are doing a review. States are getting more responsible about testing elderly drivers. If you haven't called the DOT, you may want to try. Perhaps if you find a person to whom you can tell the car story, someone may be able to speed up the review. Good luck! This is hard, but at least he did take the bus several times. That's quite remarkable and that ability should preserve some of his feeling of independence.
Carol
I suggest that you take other measures while you are waiting for the state to act ... like hiding the keys or disabling the car.