Book Talk- Elderhood by Dr. Louise Aronson Part One

This morning, I am spending time in the world of Dr. Louise Aronson. It is a difficult world to spend time in, because it is very sad. On the other hand, it is hopeful, because people like Dr. Aronson are calling out the terrible discrepancies that exist in our healthcare system for older folks. That is good news, but there is so much work to be done.

In the first few chapters, Dr. Aronson tells some frankly terrifying stories of patients that drew her in to specializing in geriatric medicine. In all of these stories, there is one common denominator- PEOPLE WERE NOT LISTENING. Thankfully, by the time these patients got to Dr. Aronson, they were saved. This was because Dr. Aronson dug deep, looking for clues, asking the family members probing questions and refused to just move them on down the chain.

In one of the cases described, the patient had Parkinsons and was non-verbal. In another one of the cases, the patient had had a massive stroke but it presented itself as dementia. So Dr. Aronson had to look beyond the facts that were presenting themselves.

The daughter of the stroke patient had actually called 911. The paramedics came to the house and determined that nothing was wrong (other than dementia) and left. Thankfully, the daughter did not give up, and persisted by calling the clinic where Dr. Aronson was on call. After questioning…