Category Archives: aging

Nursing Homes for People of Color:
Still Segregated, Still Unequal

If Martin Luther King, Jr. was alive today, he would be 86. If he was like many elderly black Americans, he might well end up in a nursing home ranked lower in quality and with less well-trained nursing staff than … Continue reading

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Dying From Dirt

Many years ago, when my father was working his way through psychiatric diagnoses, my mother-in-law, whom I’ll call “J,” said, “If I ever get like that, take me out back and shoot me.” She was kidding, of course, but not … Continue reading

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Inattention to Drug Safety in the Elderly
Leaves Generations At Risk

This post originally appeared in a slightly different form in Scientific American’s guest blog on June 30, 2011. My frail, 92-year-old mother was prescribed 80 mg of the cholesterol-lowering drug, or statin, simvastatin (Zocor) for years, possibly decades. She fell … Continue reading

Posted in aging, drug safety, falls | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments