Monday, August 19, 2013
Cognition, Medical Costs and Sex
When You Know There’s Something Wrong. The Times reports that scientists are beginning to take seriously accounts of forgetfulness and cognitive problems in patients without obvious signs of dementia. Some are calling for recognition of “subjective cognitive decline,” a stage in which people sense that they are slipping long before others have noticed and even before cognitive testing can measure it...
•Elisabeth Rosenthal, a terrific and well-informed writer, wrote in the August 3rd edition of the New York Times: "As the United States struggles to rein in its growing $2.7 trillion health care bill, the cost of medical devices like joint implants and pacemakers offers a cautionary tale. Like many medical products or procedures, they cost far more in the United States than in many other developed countries." Cautionary tale is right. Would the burgeoning "medical travel" industry (where people go to other countries for procedures that are far, far less expensive than here in the United States) even exist if we had a fair, equitable and controlled health care system? I doubt it...
• Eldercare is the least sexy subject in the world. The only thing that's less sexy is to contemplate the idea of your parent's having sex. The following item, by Brian Gruley of Bloomberg News, comes as no surprise: "Boomer sex is expected to be an issue for elder-care homes. Recently, a nurse at the Hebrew Home in Riverdale, N.Y. saw two elderly people having sex in a room and asked Daniel A. Reingold, then the home's executive vice president, what she should do. 'Tiptoe out and close the door so you don't disturb them,' he told her." Why does it seem surprising to so many that elderly people, particularly those still in reasonable health, still have sexual desires? Sex is healthful (and fun) at any age, seniors included...
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