July 18, 2024
(BBC) – A drug has increased the lifespans of laboratory animals by nearly 25%, in a discovery scientists hope can slow human ageing too. The treated mice were known as “supermodel grannies” in the lab because of their youthful appearance. … Read More
July 15, 2024
(KFF Health News) – Even after multiple incidents of extreme weather — including a 2021 Texas winter storm that caused widespread blackouts and prompted a U.S. Senate investigation — not much has changed for those living in long-term care facilities … Read More
July 12, 2024
(The Hastings Center) – The Biden Administration is struggling with a dilemma that has a clinical ethics component. Where does the President’s right to privacy about his health end and the public’s right to know begin? This question has recurred … Read More
July 12, 2024
(New York Times) – The Biden administration set stringent new federal staffing rules. But for years, nursing homes have failed to meet the toughest standards set by states. California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island have sought to improve … Read More
July 12, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Human lifespan has a limit and we might have reached it. S. Jay Olshansky, who studies the upper bounds of human longevity at the University of Illinois Chicago, believes people shouldn’t expect to live to 100. … Read More
July 12, 2024
Journal of Medical Ethics (vol. 50, no. 7, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Consent to Testing for Brain Death” by Barry Lyons and Mary Donnelly “Questioning our Presumptions about the Presumption of Capacity” by Isabel Marie Astrachan, Alexander … Read More
July 10, 2024
Nursing Ethics (vol. 31, no. 2-3, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include: “Residents’ Experiences of Paternalism in Nursing Homes” by Anne Helene Mortensen, et al. “Ethical Issues in long-term Care Settings: Care Workers’ Lived Experiences” by Anna-Liisa … Read More
July 8, 2024
(Axios) – What they found: Sexually transmitted disease diagnoses overall rose roughly 5% among commercially insured patients from 2020 to 2023, according to an analysis of FAIR Health’s repository of 47 billion commercial health care claim records. Patients aged 65 … Read More
July 8, 2024
(New York Times) – New York officials believe a robotic companion called ElliQ, which can discuss complicated subjects, is helping older residents feel less alone. Critics are concerned about data collection. ElliQ, a voice-activated robotic companion powered by artificial intelligence, … Read More
July 4, 2024
(NPR) – In hopes of easing that burden, Medicare, the federal government’s health insurance program for people 65 and over, is launching an eight-year pilot project this summer with a groundbreaking plan. The government will pay to directly support the … Read More
July 2, 2024
(Axios) – The Biden administration is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to train primary care clinicians to better serve older adults, officials announced Monday. Why it matters: America faces a shortage of geriatricians, who specialize in health care for … Read More
July 2, 2024
(Axios) – The rise in hoarding disorder as America ages requires a national response, a new Senate report shared first with Axios says. Why it matters: The prevalence and severity of hoarding disorder increases with age — and the U.S. … Read More
June 17, 2024
(ABC News) – On June 3, NYSOFA announced that it will give away 4,725 additional robotic pets to seniors in ongoing efforts to combat senior loneliness. Greg Olsen, the acting director of NYSOFA, said that loneliness has grave health consequences for … Read More
June 17, 2024
(Washington Post via Yahoo!) – The call-center incidents were among dozens flagged by doctors, nurses and assistants at One Medical Seniors between Feb. 19 and March 18 in the documents, a year after Amazon acquired the primary-care service. One Medical … Read More
June 10, 2024
(New York Times) – In long-term care facilities, residents sometimes yell at or threaten one other, lob insults, invade fellow residents’ personal or living space, rummage through others’ possessions and take them. They can swat or kick or push. Or … Read More
May 20, 2024
(New York Times) – As more places legalize marijuana, policymakers and health officials have worried about the health risks that the drug may pose to adolescents. But a new study suggests that an additional demographic is at risk: seniors. The … Read More
May 20, 2024
(MIT Technology Review) – Golden Pup and Paro are available now. But researchers are working on much more sophisticated robots for people with cognitive disorders—devices that leverage AI to converse and play games. Researchers from Indiana University Bloomington are tweaking … Read More
May 20, 2024
(Nature) – For more than a decade, researchers have been trying to see whether they can selectively destroy these cells with a variety of drugs. In a pivotal study published in 2015, a team at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, … Read More
May 15, 2024
(KFF Health News) – More than four years after covid first raged through many U.S. nursing homes, hundreds of lawsuits blaming patient deaths on negligent care have been tossed out or languished in the courts amid contentious legal battles. Even … Read More
May 15, 2024
(New York Times) – An outdated medical term often masks treatable illnesses, health experts contend. The word “failure” is rampant in medicine. Hearts, livers, lungs, and kidneys all “fail,” which simply means they cease to do their job. But the … Read More
May 6, 2024
(Washington Post via MSN) – Lift-assist 911 calls from assisted living and other senior homes have spiked by 30 percent nationwide in recent years to nearly 42,000 calls a year, an analysis of fire department emergency call data by The … Read More
April 26, 2024
(Nature) – Social robots that promise companionship and stimulation for older people and those with dementia are attracting investment, but some question their benefits. Robots are an increasingly popular form of therapy for older people with dementia. It’s been suggested … Read More
April 23, 2024
(KFF Health News) – The new rules from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are the most substantial changes to federal oversight of the nation’s roughly 15,000 nursing homes in more than three decades. But they are less stringent … Read More
April 1, 2024
(USA Today) – If the Koncaks’ struggles with health care costs as older adults sound familiar, it’s because they are. Even with insurance, Americans struggle to pay for expenses like premiums, copayments, coinsurance, and uncovered health services. As a result, … Read More
March 27, 2024
(KFF News) – The toll the American health care system extracts is, in some respects, the price of extraordinary progress in medicine. But it’s also evidence of the poor fit between older adults’ capacities and the health care system’s demands. … Read More
