Clinic falsely told dozens they had Alzheimer's, suits say

Don Tanner said he, too, felt like taking his own life.

He was sent to the clinic for therapy in February 2015 after suffering a severe brain injury in a fall. The trauma of healing while dealing with the devastating diagnosis of Alzheimer's became unbearable.

"She gave me a death sentence," said Tanner, who told his wife he wanted to jump off a bridge and then thought about wandering off into the marsh behind their home with his gun.

He had seen firsthand how Alzheimer's gradually erodes someone while caring for his dad. He spent many days shaving and dressing his father, who died only months before Tanner's own diagnosis.

"It was just cemented in my mind that I wasn't going to put my family through that," he said.

His wife enlisted their daughters and friends to stay with him while she was at work, fearing what she'd find when she returned. "If he had a bad day, I didn't know where that would send him," said his wife, Monica.

It wasn't until last summer — after the clinic had closed — that a new doctor told him there was no way he had Alzheimer's.

"God must have been on my side, because I didn't go out there and get that damn gun," Tanner said. "But man I thought of it. Something kept telling me it's not there yet."