The denial of aging : perpetual youth, eternal life, and other dangerous fantasies / Muriel R. Gillick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gillick, Muriel R., 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Old age--United States.

Old age.

Old age--United States--Planning.

Older people--United States.

Older people.

Aging--United States.

Aging.

Retirement--United States.

Retirement.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (352 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Someday, as Muriel Gillick points out in this important yet unsettling book, you too will be old. How do you prepare? What will you need? Skilfully incorporating insights from medicine, health policy and economics, she lays out action plans for individuals and for communities.

Listen to a short interview with Dr. Muriel Gillick Host: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane You've argued politics with your aunt since high school, but failing eyesight now prevents her from keeping current with the newspaper. Your mother fractured her hip last year and is confined to a wheelchair. Your father has Alzheimer's and only occasionally recognizes you. Someday, as Muriel Gillick points out in this important yet unsettling book, you too will be old. And no matter what vitamin regimen you're on now, you will likely one day find yourself sick or frail. How do you prepare? What will you need? With passion and compassion, Gillick chronicles the stories of elders who have struggled with housing options, with medical care decisions, and with finding meaning in life. Skillfully incorporating insights from medicine, health policy, and economics, she lays out action plans for individuals and for communities. In addition to doing all we can to maintain our health, we must vote and organize--for housing choices that consider autonomy as well as safety, for employment that utilizes the skills and wisdom of the elderly, and for better management of disability and chronic disease. Most provocatively, Gillick argues against desperate attempts to cure the incurable. Care should focus on quality of life, not whether it can be prolonged at any cost. "A good old age," writes Gillick, "is within our grasp." But we must reach in the right direction.

Contents:

Prelude 1. An Ounce of Prevention? 2. When Less Is More 3. Doing the Right Thing Near the End 4. The Trouble with Medicare 5. Is a Nursing Home in Your Future? 6. Assisted Living: Boon or Boondoggle? 7. The Lure of Immortality 8. Making the Most of the Retirement Years Finale Appendix: Resources and References Notes Acknowledgments Index

Notes:

Originally published: 2006.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-330) and index.

ISBN:

0-674-03759-6