ALZHEIMER'S. This was a terrific catch by Ezra. If I may just add my own particularly nasty-ass dog in the fight -- Alzheimer's Disease, which struck down my father and every one of his four siblings. It is a disease that takes a horrible toll on almost everyone in a patient's family. The estimated cost of caring for an AD patient is $174,000, and average course of the disease is seven years. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 16 million Americans might have the disease by 2050. Even if a therapy can be found, a lot of the cost of caring for an AD patient is still going to come from things like home nursing and respite-care, which enable the fulltime caregiver, usually an aging spouse, the opportunity to sleep three or four consecutive hours. And we don't have the space to get into the problems inherent in the nursing-home industry. As Ezra said, a malignant system, indeed.
--Charles P. Pierce
