Martha Jane Proctor says her long-time friend Barbara Feldman was having a "hissy fit" -- waving her arms and yelling -- when they left Proctor's doctor's office.
"How could you forget to bring your medications to your appointment? What is ... more

For those 65 and older, falling can be fatal; in fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among this age group, and some 40 percent of seniors fall ... more

Medicare is government-funded health care insurance for seniors 65 and over, and while it helps many seniors, it's also notorious for being overly complex, with four parts that can be combined in multiple ways, and a 100-page plus consumer guide ... more

Medical advances help people live longer and longer, but too few physicians help people understand that longer is not always better, according to two new books.
Ira Byock says he wants "to raise people's expectations" about the end of life ... more

It was December when Jeanada Nolan told her family the time had come.
She was 96, a longtime breast cancer survivor who had lost her eyesight to macular degeneration in 1997, but it took more than blindness to slow her down. ... more

It's received scant attention, but tucked in the sweeping health care reform bill signed by President Barack Obama is the most comprehensive federal effort ever to fight elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.
The legislation includes the long-sought Elder Justice Act, which ... more

The demand for home health care has never been greater.
An estimated 12 million Americans were seen by a home health nurse in 2009, reported the National Association of Home Care and Hospice.
But home health-care agencies have taken an ... more

What you should know:
Many people need special care after an accident or stroke or due to long-term health problems. By age 65, more than half of adults will need some form of special care.
The need for long-term care ... more

Several years ago, completely out of the blue, I experienced what could accurately be described as a catastrophic neurological event. With its average survival rate really low, I came  close to being in that statistically small number of people who ... more