Adding Insult to Injury: Alzheimer's Patient Loses Home

July 5, 2007 — -- It was moving day for Dr. Janet Mitchell.

Her sister Blanche Hughes took down the family photos from the wall of Mitchell's room — a portrait of their mother, a photo of their father, a jockey, wearing racing silks and leather riding boots. She asked Mitchell to find her toothbrush and helped take the linens from the bed.

At age 57, Mitchell is not what we typically think of as elderly. She's 4 foot, 10 inches, tiny and trim like her father, with a close-cropped Afro. But at this relatively young age, Mitchell has been stricken with early-onset Alzheimer's, and Hughes has made the wrenching decision to place her in long-term care.

"Never in all my dreams did I ever think that I would have to take care of her," said Hughes. "First of all, she wasn't the type of person you would take care of. She always took care of herself."

In fact, Mitchell had a brilliant career taking care of others. With an undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College, a medical degree from Howard University and a master's degree in Public Health from Harvard, she was a leading OB-GYN at Harlem and Lincoln hospitals in New York, specializing in neonatology. She was nationally known as a brilliant gynecological surgeon and a tireless advocate for patients with HIV/AIDS.

Her sister describes her as a "bright, bossy woman who knew what she wanted and went after it."

But now it's the doctor who's in need of care.

On a hot Saturday in June, Hughes hired two men to dismantle the furniture in her sister's room and helped carry her things to the moving truck.

At first, Mitchell was agreeable, helping her sister pack and laughing about childhood memories. But as she went to the garage to get in the car, she broke down. Finally it seemed to dawn on her where she was going, if not exactly why.

When asked whether she knew about Alzheimer's, she said yes. When asked whether she had it, she answered no.

Hughes can't believe she missed so many signs of her sister's illness, but the two lived almost a continent apart: Mitchell lived in New York while Hughes and her husband, Wayne Hughes, raised their children in Colorado.

"She would come home from New York once a year," Hughes said. "She was always working."

But she says that Mitchell was "different" during her last couple of Christmas visits.

"I thought it was depression. She had been through a tough divorce," she said. "Then our daughter Dana, who was really close to Janet and who lives in New York kept saying, 'Something's wrong.'"Mitchell: Yeah, in Brooklyn, yeah. It's a house that a friend of ours had given to us.

Mabrey: Really? In Fort Greene?

Mitchell nods.

Mabrey: What's happened to it?

Mitchell: No, it's still there.

Mabrey: Who owns it now?

Mitchell: Ah, my husband is there with it so it's OK.

Mabrey: Who's your husband?

Mitchell: (pause) I'm trying to remember who he is but that's OK.

In fact, Mitchell and her husband were divorced and he died two years ago. The house was purchased; it was not a gift from a friend.

Mitchell is equally confused about the deal with Mirza.

Mabrey: Did you sign your house over to him?
Mitchell shakes her head.Mabrey: Does he own your house now?
Mitchell: (shakes head no) 'Cause I told him that he didn't.
Mabrey: Did he try to buy your house from you?
Mitchell: He tried.
Mabrey: What did he say?
Mitchell: I said, "Excuse me, because you ain't coming into my house. That's what I told him. 'This is my house, it ain't your house.'"

The Hugheses says they have appealed to Mirza, asking him to provide some funds to help pay for Mitchell's long-term care. Public records indicate that since acquiring the deed in June 2005, he has taken out two loans against the property, totaling nearly $1.5 million.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, Blanche and Wayne Hughes will foot the bill for Mitchell's care, which now comes to $2,900 per month. As Blanche says, "That's my biggest fear and struggle right now, making sure she has the finances to take care of her in a nice place, because she worked hard and it would be nice for her to live in a nice place."

It has been a tragic descent for Dr. Janet Mitchell. The disease has robbed her and her family in so many ways.

"You have to say goodbye to the old Janet," Blanche Hughes said. "That's the only way you can do it. I can't keep thinking about, 'Oh, it's so sad, she used to be like this.' Well, yeah, look at her, so who is she now?"

As Mitchell breaks down crying in the nursing home, her sister holds her. "It's going to be Ok. Trust me," she says, "I'm your little sister who you can trust."