Now this is ironic

This is funny but also sad. A psychiatrist who rose to prominence for claiming old video tapes demonstrate that President Reagan was suffering from diminished mental ability (Alzheimers) as early as 1980 is back in the news. Why is he in the news? Turns out he is the reason we all get the scam Nigerian emails.

A renowned psychiatrist lost up to $3 million over 10 years to a Nigerian Internet scam, his son alleges in a lawsuit. Dr. Louis A. Gottschalk, an 89-year-old neuroscientist who works at the University of California, Irvine medical plaza that bears his name, acknowledged losing $900,000 to "some bad investments," according to court papers. Guy Gottschalk filed a lawsuit last month asking a judge to remove his father as administrator of the family's $8 million partnership. He alleges his father destroyed bank records to cover up his losses.

The only reason they send those emails is because they work occasionally. Sounds like an ugly case of bad karma. What is better evidence of diminished mental capacity, speech patterns or giving millions of dollars to crooks that sent you an email? Hmmm?

Seriously though, this situations are something families need to watch for before problems arise. With an aging population and a rapidly changing technology it is difficult to keep up with the various financial scams targeting the elderly. The illegal ones make the news but there are many legal "scams" people need to be aware of before they (or their parents) get ripped off. The old rule of "if it sounds too good to be true . . . " should be kept in mind.