Hello --

 

I have a case wherein my client, an 84 year old functional Alzheimer's patient, was taking the trash out.  Plumbers were working in his yard the day beforehand.  They dug a large hole and covered it with a very flimsy piece of wood.  Client, on his way to the trash can, walked across the wood and fell into the grave-sized hole.  His 82 year old wife was walking behind him and saw the entire incident.  She actually had to pull him out of the trench. 

 

Client was taken to the hospital.  Up to that day, he was able to ambulate on his own.  He never returned from the hospital because he could no longer walk or care for himself in any of the ways that he could prior to this incident.

 

He died about 6 months later while in the convalescent home.  A colleague of mine spoke to a geriatric doctor who opined that physical trauma can exacerbate Alzheimer's and actually hasten death in such a patient.

 

Opinions?  Literature?