The DOW sure has been gybing violently for the past week or more. I have been changing directions sometimes from day to day.
A sailing accidental gybe down wind at speed with heavy following seas is terrifying ... the swell kicks the stern out, rotating the boat beneath the boom and preemptive steering corrections down a wave and up the next one are required, meaning the wheel is always in motion from one side to the other, for hours, and helming becomes exhausting ... the boom swings very fast and forcefully from wide out on one side to wide out on the other in about 1 second. Rigging can break sometimes when this happens. A helmet may not offer a lot much protection to a fast moving, heavy boom.
Howver in the other fatality, I understand the sailor was not hit by the boom itself during an accidental gybe, but forcefully by the boom rope traveller and pulley system, which then catapulted him head first into a winch block ... a helmet may have saved the man's life in this instance.
To your other topic, UTI's are very common in elderly people and can leave them very unwell and highly disoriented ... in my experience, visiting close family are often the first to recognise symptoms for nursing home residents ... so where possible, regular family visits are important imo.
