Category: Aging

A Wrenching Farewell: Bidding Adieu to My Primary Care Doctor After Nearly 30 Years

Long-term relationships between patients and doctors often enrich the quality of care and create deep emotional bonds. When the doctors retire or move on, saying goodbye can be hard.

Organ Centers to Transplant Patients: Get a Covid Shot or Move Down on Waitlist

At issue is whether transplant patients who refuse the shots are not only putting themselves at greater risk for serious illness and death from covid-19, but also squandering scarce organs that could benefit others.

California Vaccine Mandate Extends to Aides for People With Disabilities

Even though they perform the same intimate tasks as nursing home and hospital workers, in-home health aides initially were left out of California’s vaccine mandate. They must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30.

Alzheimer’s Drug Targets People With Mild Cognitive Impairment. What Does That Mean?

The condition can be an early signal of Alzheimer’s disease, but not always. Other health concerns could be causing thinking or memory problems, and the new drug, Aduhelm, would not be appropriate for those patients.

An Ad’s Charge That Price Haggling Would ‘Swipe $500 Billion From Medicare’ Is Incorrect

The ad, advanced by a right-leaning seniors advocacy organization, mischaracterizes proposals to bargain on drug prices, regarding both the effects on the Medicare program and on beneficiaries.

The Checkup Is in the Mail? Soliciting Letter Carriers to Help Deliver Health Care

Here’s an out-of-the-box idea: Have letter carriers spend less time delivering mail and take time to perform home visits and basic health checks on the growing population of frail and elderly.

Minister for Seniors at Famed Church Confronts Ageism and the Shame It Brings

Lynn Casteel Harper, a minister at the interdenominational Riverside Church in New York City, discusses the spiritual dimension of aging.

‘My Time to Live’: Through Novel Program, Kidney Patients Get Palliative Care, Dialysis ’Til the End

Seattle’s Northwest Kidney Centers, which pioneered kidney failure treatment 50 years ago, now pairs dying patients with hospice services, without forcing them to forgo the comfort dialysis can provide.

Readers and Tweeters Ponder Vaccines and Points of Fairness

Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Readers and Tweeters Ponder Vaccines and Points of Fairness

Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.