A statement by Christian televangelist Pat Robertson that it’s okay to divorce a spouse with Alzheimer’s because the disease is “like a walking death” was met with mixed reaction Thursday.
“I’ve never heard of it put in quite that way before,” said the Rev. Frank Corbishley, Episcopal Chaplain at the University of Miami. But, “I would not judge a person for moving on with his or her life.”
Robertson’s comments caused a stir in religious and medical communities nationwide, which seemed to be a departure from his fundamentalist rhetoric.
Robertson -- who also made headlines in 2010 when he claimed that the earthquake in Haiti was partly due to that nation’s “pact to the devil” – made the Alzheimer’s remark earlier this week on his TV show “700 Club” while replying to a viewer who asked what advice he should give a friend who cheats on his spouse because she suffers from the degenerative disease.
“I know it sounds cruel but if he’s gonna do something he should divorce her and start over again, but make sure she has custodial care,” said Robertson, who founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, which airs his show “700 Club”.
An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, a figure that’s expected to rise as baby boomers continue to age. Of Americans aged 65 and over, one in eight has Alzheimer’s, and nearly half of people aged 85 and older have the disease.
Corbishley agreed with most of Robertson’s assessment, saying that if an Alzheimer’s-stricken wife “is not mentally right, she would not be hurt by [her husband] moving on. She’s oblivious,” he said.
However, Corbishley added that one should continue to provide care for his/her loved one, even if they end a relationship with divorce. “We do believe that, in principle, marriage is till death do us part. But life is a lot more complicated than that.”
Robertson’s most controversial comment came when he hinted that the wedding vows of “till death do us part” don’t apply to Alzheimer’s cases because the disease “is a kind of death.”
The Alzheimer’s Association disagreed with the remark.
“We think a person is still a person all the way until the end,” said Beth Kallmyer, director of constituent services for the Alzheimer’s Association, based in Chicago. “They certainly benefit from loving family interaction, even in the late stage of the disease.”
Kate Runy, 29, whose father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 54, said his mother took care of him until he died last November. “The love they had remained until the very last day,” Runy said in response to a Miami Herald Public Insight Network query. “Any time he heard my mother’s voice, he immediately lit up.”
Karen Szabo, 49, whose parents both suffered from Alzheimer’s, said that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s “is cruel, selfish and inhuman.”
“You don’t leave your spouse because they lose their memories - this is when they need you, you are their only link to the life they once had.”
