A doctor who examined former Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott in October 2013 — more than a year before he was most recently elected — said he diagnosed Ott with dementia at the time.
An attorney in former Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott’s guardianship case said in court Thursday that Ott has advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
The statements, from an Ogden neurologist and an attorney representing Ott’s siblings in the case, were the first times the severity of his condition was released after years of reports that indicated he had a permanent mental incapacity.
It also came after a judge ordered that journalists could report on the case — including testimony from numerous former employees who worked for Ott as his mental capacity rapidly declined, apparently during his final term in office — after he had considered closing the hearing for Ott’s privacy.