wrote in message

he said he was
getting too old. He has now forgotten that.

.. He has
insufficient water storage and is relying on desalination
equipment that has a history of failure. His main engine is
unreliable and difficult to start although it hasn't many hours
since a full rebuild. His rigging is old and underrated for bad
weather. He spent several hundred thousand dollars buying a
yacht that no one could sell for nearly nine years, because of
these problems. He is relying on being able to fix these problems
himself, not hire professionals to do it.

My sister tells me that the last time she saw him, just before he
bought the yacht, he was "losing it" starting to act senile,
forgetting things that he had just discussed and remembering
things from the past that were mixed up, confusing events from
various decades, combining them into one.

Wouldn't you be worried if it was your father?


Faith

I'll give my opinion for what it is worth.

I'm a physician in Geriatric and Internal Medicine in Australia.

From what describe, if accurate, your father likely has Alzheimer's disease.
While many would question giving a diagnosis over usenet, it's not a big
call as Alzheimer's is the commonest cause of dementia by a large margin (
about 3/4 of all cases at that age) and affecting about 25% of 85 year olds.
The lack of judgement and forgetfulness you describe is typical. Many are
under the mistaken impression that these are a natural concomitant of aging
but that is not the case- Three out of four 85 year olds are cognitively
normal.

While I know nothing of your medicolegal systems (I'm assuming you're in the
US), here, the appropriate step would be a medical assessment to make or
refute a diagnosis and if he is suffering from Alzheimer's of significant
degree, and thus not have decision making capacity, then take the suitable
steps to protect him and others from harm.

Of course if he does not have a disease like Alzheimer's affecting his
cognition and is simply a foolish/stubborn/cantankerous old man then he and
his friend can accept any risk they choose. Playing the odds, I think the
likelihood is a dementing illness in the early stages.

Unfortunately we see quite commonly the effects of Alzheimer's disease too
late to intervene. Many a family business has been ruined by bad decision
making from dementia before it is picked up, leaving the spouse destitute.

I do go sailing as well - hopefully the off topic post is excused.

Peter HK