ChangingAging.org

The executives of a healthcare organization with over 1200 employees have renegotiated the health insurance plan terms and costs for the new fiscal year.  There are several plans offered by this employer, one plan (HMO) has by far the lowest monthly premiums and is the plan that over 95% of the employees opt for.  The [...]

You receive a call from a relative saying your 94 year old Aunt B. who lives
in the west, has been rushed to the hospital and is in intensive care.
Earlier in the day she had been having respiratory distress at her home and
her son had transported her to the hospital for treatment. She is not [...]

Mr. X was an older man that had a history of alcohol abuse and was a resident of a nursing home. He enjoyed smoking cigarettes in the designated outdoor smoking area. There were specific times a day that the residents could smoke, which were supervised by staff. The smoking policy stated that all [...]

Katherine is in her early eighties and suffers from a cardiac valve condition diagnosed about a decade ago.  She has been adamant with her cardiologist since first learning of the problem that she will not have surgery, even if eventually necessary to save her life. Her response anytime he has broached the subject has always [...]

I recently witnessed a very real and painful moral dilemma that I would
like to share. On Friday, April 30th my great-grandmother passed away in
the small farm town of Columbus, Kansas. Throughout her remarkable life
she demonstrated the importance of family and taught us how to love. She
was 88 years old.
My great-grandfather is the same age as [...]

Here’s my dilemma:
Eleven years ago, at age 61, my single (divorced) father was transferred to a VA post-acute facility following major surgery. He lived there for what were to be the last two years of his life. The memory issues his adult children had begun noticing prior to his surgery had been diagnosed [...]

Growing up in New York City during the Depression my 89 year old father does what
most Depression survivors do. He saves rusty nails, old paint, pieces of lumber and
Popular Mechanics magazines from 1965. I don’t have the heart to tell him engines
don’t look like that anymore. His house has not been cleaned in 15 years. [...]

A very active, healthy 80 year old woman is walking a trail one day when
she trips and falls. She is rushed to the hospital where she is found to
have a subdural hematoma. An evacuation of the hematoma (brain surgery) is
recommended and completed but the patient is not doing well after the
surgery. A living will is [...]

Bocephus (“Bo”) is age 19, high IQ, clinically depressed and
anxious (PTSD from a sexual abuse when he was 5) – he currently refuses talk
or medication therapy although he received both thru age 12. His
parents passed away 2 years ago and he is now living with his brother,
Michael who is 15 years older. [...]

Helen arrived for her appointment with Jane, the service coordinator of
her senior community. Jane commented on bruises on Helen’s face and arm.
Helen explained that she argued with her sister a few of days ago and the
sister had hit her several times.
Helen asked Jane to help her figure out how to change her power of
attorney [...]