Glad to hear that the dad is considering another career path, such as PA (heads up…many programs require 2000+ hands on clinical patient care for admittance, so he needs to get going with that).
To those commenting how they know someone who started med school at age 40. That is a different situation.
The dad is 49 years old and at least 3 years from starting med school. He’d be 52-53+ when he’d start. Those 10-13 years difference are critical. They would influence an adcom’s decision to give a precious seat to a 52/53 year old over a 25 or even 35 year old. As mentioned upthread, a 53 year old could be 63 when actually ready to practice.
Becoming a PA is more reasonable, but also not an easy path. When dad applies, he’ll be competing with all the non-trad applicants who are paramedics, EMTs, and ex-military medics…all who have a gazillion hours of hands-on patient care.