A Really Weird (and sad) News Story

Riding on the train to work today I was perusing the Metro newspaper, mainly because it's free and distracts me for the 10 minutes I'm on the 6 line, and I came across a news story that was pretty messed up.  It's really sad, but also really interesting.

Ex-Wrestler Body Slams Fellow Senior Citizen

Basically, retired pro-Wrestler Verne Gagne is believed to have bodyslammed a 97-year-old fellow nursing home patient, which eventually resulted in the man's death.  The body slam broke the other man's hip, and he died three weeks after the incident.

Verne Gagne suffers from Alzheimer's disease, and it's believed that he has lost most of his short-term memory, while his recollection of events long ago remains vivid.  Authorities speculate that he was experiencing a flashback to his wrestling days, but it's almost impossible to verify.

The widow of the man who died as a result says she doesn't blame Mr. Gagne for her husband's death and believes he had no idea what he was doing.

Alzheimer's disease scares me for many obvious reasons, but this kind of just adds to the list...  I'm actually kind of surprised that you don't hear more often about people with the disease causing more harm to others, but I guess it's probably because, as the article states, "Most Alzheimer's victims are old and frail, and when they lash out they do not usually cause much harm."

In any case, it's a very, very sad story, but is really interesting.  I hope both families involved recover and never have to go through something like this again.