Aging

My treating older people have been dotted with experiences of ageism which, years later, will recount to me something I regret. So common is ageism, and so natural is it to those of us who have received little training in geriatrics, that functional decline becomes the sine qua non of old age.  

Recently, I read about the origin of the term "ageism," coined in 1968 by an American gerontologist Dr. Robert Butler. Known for his decades-long passion to challenge the deep-seated age-based discrimination in healthcare, Butler called for sweeping policy reforms when older patients were often neglected and simply shrugged off. 

We've all been there. I've lost track of the number of times I said something like "You know that she's very old. She can't tolerate more treatment. You are asking too much. She will soon be no more."

I have learned more about special needs of old people by looking after my dad than any lecture in geriatrics medicine. It's challenging, but I must agree with Butler that many of the ailments of the old are possibly preventable, probably rewardable, and most certainly treatable.