The Federal Bureau of Prisons recently opened a unit for people suffering dementia. But is incarceration a ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment for those who don’t understand why they are behind bars?
Nearly half the states have reduced liability for health care providers at a time when nursing home regulation is declining and families can’t visit loved ones for fear of spreading the coronavirus.
Caroline Cicero, University of Southern California et Paul Nash, University of Southern California
What’s in a word? Plenty, when it comes to the choices we use to describe people over 60. Stigma against older people that has been evident during the COVID-19 pandemic shows why it’s time to change.
The government doesn’t know how many people have died of COVID-19, in part because it didn’t require nursing homes to report cases to the CDC. In some states, over half of deaths are in nursing homes.
Different demographics are more or less vulnerable to serious complications from the coronavirus. A virologist explains the aging-related changes in how immune systems work that are to blame.
Nine states and the District of Columbia currently have laws that permit assisted dying, but the laws are so restrictive that they are often more hurdle than help.
Asking loved ones with memory problems to discuss holiday memories can help them retrieve some memories, studies suggest. In turn, that can improve mood and quality of life.
Cataracts, which can be experienced by anyone as they age, happen when the lens of the eye gradually becomes less transparent. There are ways, however, to correct this.
Since 1990, the homicide rate has declined by 20%. Researchers are still figuring out what’s behind the trend: increased incarceration, improvements in the economy or even aging populations.
Senior Scientist Team Lead Nutrition Exercise Physiology and Sarcopenia Team Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Professor of Medicine, Tufts University
Professor, Department of Gerontology, McCormack Graduate School Director, Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging, Gerontology Institute, UMass Boston