Pat Robertson: Alzheimer's Justifies Divorce

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his "700 Club" viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's is justifiable because the disease is "a kind of death."

During the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder.

"I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said.

The chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, which airs the "700 Club," said he wouldn't "put a guilt trip" on anyone who divorces a spouse who suffers from the illness, but added, "Get some ethicist besides me to give you the answer."

Most Christian denominations at least discourage divorce, citing Jesus' words in the Gospel of Mark that equate divorce and remarriage with adultery.

Terry Meeuwsen, Robertson's co-host, asked him about couples' marriage vows to take care of each other "for better or for worse" and "in sickness and in health."

"If you respect that vow, you say `til death do us part,'" Robertson said during the Tuesday broadcast. "This is a kind of death."

A network spokesman said Wednesday that Robertson had no further statement.

Divorce is uncommon among couples where one partner is suffering from Alzheimer's, said Beth Kallmyer, director of constituent services for the Alzheimer's Association, which provides resources to sufferers and their families.

"We don't hear a lot of people saying `I'm going to get divorced,'" she told The Associated Press. "Families typically respond the way they do to any other fatal disease."

The stress can be significant in marriages though, Kallmyer said, because it results in the gradual loss of a person's mental faculties.

"The caregiving can be really stressful on a couple of levels," she said. "There's the physical level. There's also the emotional level of feeling like you're losing that person you love."

As a result, she said, it's important for couples to make decisions about care together in the early stages of the illness, when its effects aren't as prominent.

___

Online:

http://www.alz.org

Comments

[hardlyhikin]

05:59 PM on 10/25/2011

Maybe in the early stages of Alzheimer's the couple should have a discussion and decide what is acceptable and okay...

"Honey, you're going to lose all your mental faculties and be nothing but a burden to me;would you mind if I either got a divorce or just fooled around on you when you no longer realize what's going on? You won't have any idea what's going on anyway.

Yeah, right. And what will the children think when one parent abandons the other because it's too much trouble to take care of the ill one?

It's okay to abandon an ailing spouse but not okay to end a pregnancy that you can't deal with, right? So much for FAMILY values.

[TRene11]

05:43 PM on 10/25/2011

His nosehairs are a form of death...

[DerFarm]

05:12 PM on 10/25/2011

I've read most of the comments and I must say, they usually lack honesty and are filled with a kind of sick gleefulness. Alzheimer's IS a kind of death. The Alzheimer's patient comes to be someone who bears little or no mental resemblance to the person they were. I've seen Alzheimer's close up in my family and it's not an easy question to face. For once in his life, Robertson has given compassionate, nuanced answer to a real life question.

My daddy used to say that even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then. Robertson has found the first acorn in his life ... and he's right on this one issue.

[logicalchoice]

03:54 PM on 10/25/2011

So this is who the GOTP looks to for moral guidance.

[gerald1961]

05:45 PM on 10/22/2011

Hate mongering two faced liar.

[Red Russet]

05:21 PM on 10/22/2011

He doesn't remember ever saying that. By the way, someone tell him to cut his nose hair.

[dennishastings]

09:52 PM on 10/25/2011

That's his best feature. Without the nose hairs he's nothing.

[srheard]

03:47 PM on 09/26/2011

Robertson says, "Get some ethicist besides me to give you the answer."

That implies that Robertson is an ethisist, which I find suspect. Just consider his opinion regarding Terri Schiavo's "murder".

[Jake Thomas]

03:39 PM on 09/26/2011

So if I they are as good as dead can we go ahead and bury them?

[hudmason]

07:35 PM on 09/22/2011

Pat, its sad when a person like yourself doesn't even know what our Bible says

[COPESTIR3]

09:36 PM on 09/21/2011

Well, Pat Robertson's wife must have her divorce attorney on speed-dial at this point. Since Pat Robertson forgot what the doctor explained was the source of his cognitive handicap. She now is overjoyed to finally see an out to this relationship.

[Maerwynn]

08:35 PM on 09/21/2011

"If you respect that vow, you say `til death do us part,'" Robertson said during the Tuesday broadcast. "This is a kind of death."

Would this also then apply to a spouse whose spouse has say terminal cancer or some other terminal disease?

What about the spouse of a stroke victim where the stroke victim loses all mobility and speech but may live for decades after the stroke? Wouldn't that be a "kind of death"?

Ah yes. The sanctity of marriage is under attack from all quarters and must be protected.

Or not.

[gibraltar]

08:00 PM on 09/21/2011

And still the flock will come to be sheared!

[JShankel]

04:15 PM on 09/21/2011

What part of "in SICKNESS and in health for long as you both shall live" is unclear, Pat?

I mean, I know it's not as clear as "gays cause earthquakes," but I think if you examine the text of the marriage vows, you'll find that actual death, not "a kind of death" is the end of a marriage.

Now me, m'self, I say people should handle this kind of thing the way that works for them.  But then again, I'm not a sheep and I don't need a shepherd to tell me what's right and what's not.

[Jake Thomas]

03:42 PM on 09/26/2011

This is not about sickness, according to Pat they are suffering "a kind of death."
In other words they are Zombies!
Protect your brains!

[B Riley]

12:19 PM on 09/21/2011

Two things he obviously hasn't dealt with in his position.
If it'is a form of death, what if they wanted to be euthanized if they got alzheimers.
What if a treatment for alzheimers comes along, and this divorced dead person is alive again.

[taoistpunk]

10:30 AM on 09/21/2011

of course he did.