Last week there was a big-to-do about former Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O’Conner’s husband John O’Conner, and his love affair with another woman. One of the articles I read on this topic, posted on CNN.com and titled “Son: O’Connor not jealous of husband’s new relationship”, stated that Sandra is not jealous of her husbands new relationship and in fact she is even a bit relived. What? How can a wife not be jealous of her husband’s adulterous affair? Well, her husband John O’Conner has been suffering from the effects of Alzheimer’s for quite some time and apparently his affair has helped him to deal with living in the long term care treatment facility. John O’Conner, who lives in a Phoenix facility for Alzheimer’s patients, is involved in a fellow patient, known simply as “Kay”.

Also posted on CNN.com was a video featuring Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who commented that it’s not such a rare thing for an Alzheimer’s patient to forget their spouse and fall in love with someone else. Dr. Gupta went on to say that as Alzheimer’s progresses and “ravages” more of the brain; it may modify the part of the brain responsible for people’s urges to seek intimacy. In addition he stated that it is widely hypothesized that people with dementia might “start anew” in their thinking and that a “residential care facility might become their whole world”, and that these people may completely forget their old life.

If you still aren’t convinced, check out the trailer for “Away from her”, a movie about this very issue, which Dr Gupta mentioned during his comments on the subject.

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