People often have no clue about what might be important when an older individual, especially if they have dementia, develops a bladder infection. I often hear that the key indication is that the patient’s urine is “smelly” or “darker” and that a checking a urine...
Dr. Louis M. Profeta, and emergency physician practicing in Indianapolis has written a compelling article “I Know You Love Me- Now Let Me Die” This is a great blog post about end of life. I totally agree that we have “medicalized” end of life—it gets death out of...
In a time when American pharmaceutical companies are buying the rights to old medications such as morphine, colchicine (for gout- renamed Colcrys and charging $7 for a pill instead of 50 cents), or doxycycline and charging much higher prices, or developing peanut...
Many of you have heard of the iPod Music & Memory Project through the documentary Alive Inside about the amazing ways beloved music can positively affect folks with dementia. Music is proving to be extremely helpful in other areas of medicine as well. Can music...
The care landscape is changing rapidly. For years, policymakers have been pointing out that we don’t have nearly adequate resources to care for our growing number of elderly. There aren’t enough geriatricians. There aren’t enough geriatric psychiatrists. There aren’t...
Recently, there’s been a lot of news about a 78-year-old Iowa legislator who’s now standing trial for a third-degree felony, accused of having “inappropriate” sexual relations with his wife, who had severe dementia. The nursing home where his wife lived allows sexual...