Gene Hackman, wife and dog found dead / wife died of hantavirus, Hackman a week later of heart failure

Huh? said:
My guess is that the wife, the caregiver, had a heart attack first. The one dog was crated. He, with dementia, didn't know how to call for help and fell and couldn't get up in his agitated state.

If so, very sad and horrifying.
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FWIW, and unfortunately, your guess was very accurate (but respiratory vs heart failure).
 
Bobfripp said:
FWIW, and unfortunately, your guess was very accurate (but respiratory vs heart failure).
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Hopefully, this story is a wake-up call to people in similar situations to have help around the house. Given Hackman's wealth, it was reckless for the wife not to have someone in the house to help. That house is huge and there is no way she could keep it clean herself (and maybe that is why she caught a disease from rat droppings). You also wonder if there were estrangement between the stepchildren and stepmom given how long between the date of death and someone checking on them.
 
Hantavirus is an odd cause of death. Iirc, it involves exposure to rodent droppings.
 
finesse said:
Hantavirus is an odd cause of death. Iirc, it involves exposure to rodent droppings.
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My wife and I have no-kill traps for mice, so we have to be careful about handling the mice, setting them free and washing up everything afterwards.
 
Bobfripp said:
My wife and I have no-kill traps for mice, so we have to be careful about handling the mice, setting them free and washing up everything afterwards.
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You’re kinder to the mice than I am. I have those little contraptions that hold small rectangular “loaves” of poison…..mice are about the only critters that can get to the poison. I have LOTS of them. Haven’t seen a mouse in my house or my parents.
 
Zoo_View said:
You’re kinder to the mice than I am. I have those little contraptions that hold small rectangular “loaves” of poison…..mice are about the only critters that can get to the poison. I have LOTS of them. Haven’t seen a mouse in my house or my parents.
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We used to have a cat, so we didn't need to set no-kill mouse traps.
 
This whole event was tragic to begin with, but the Hantavirus angle makes it even more odd and heart-breakjing, given how rate Hantavirus is, but the location makes sense (SW US)
 
wmheel1287 said:
I would imagine a severely diminished alzheimers patient didn't get proper food or water and didn't get necessary medication. I also imagine the poor dog dehydrated to death in the kennel. Horrible way for both to go.
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Sad. I can't believe that no one checked on them.
 
Calheel said:
Hopefully, this story is a wake-up call to people in similar situations to have help around the house. Given Hackman's wealth, it was reckless for the wife not to have someone in the house to help. That house is huge and there is no way she could keep it clean herself (and maybe that is why she caught a disease from rat droppings). You also wonder if there were estrangement between the stepchildren and stepmom given how long between the date of death and someone checking on them.
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There should have been a nurse there 2X+ a week. Additional care through hospice with Medicare is available. My wife's mother went into heart failure and had nurses and hospice trading off and check up and visiting daily.
 
Duke Mu said:
There should have been a nurse there 2X+ a week. Additional care through hospice with Medicare is available. My wife's mother went into heart failure and had nurses and hospice trading off and check up and visiting daily.
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Minimum. At Hackman’s wealth, I’d expect a live in. Perhaps they had some mental health issues and didn’t want anyone else in the house. But that is where you’d hope the kids could talk some sense into the stepmom.
 
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