Welcome to Litsy!

To most people‘s surprise, a large study of the US found that midlife is the time of least happiness, greatest anxiety, and lowest life satisfaction for both men and women. Things begin looking up around age 60—and not because the “younger old” are skewing the curve. The Gallup World Poll, which studies countries large and small, poor and rich...finds that life satisfaction assumes a U-shape across life in wealthier countries...

I got some lovely new books in the mail today.

I thought the world of Dr. Aronson‘s book and she was even more fabulous in person at the Decatur Book Festival. Well-moderated by Dr. Ted Johnson #DBF2019

“. . . I realized that medical training doesn‘t just erode doctors‘ empathy: it brainwashes the common sense right out of us.”

Finding some sections of this book a bit repetitive, but other than that, it‘s a smooth read that expertly mixes patient-physician anecdote with history, culture, language, and perspective, conveying a solid understanding about how geriatrics wound up where it is and where it needs to go.

I have my first medical school interview next weekend 🙀 In between reviewing my personal statement and reflecting on my interview answers, I‘m going to dive into this thoughtfully innovative book on geriatrics to distract myself 👩🏽‍⚕️🧬💉💊 I listened to an interview with the author on NPR and immediately had to Amazon prime this one ...

It‘s hard to explain my feelings about this book in a short review. The author is a geriatric physician, and knows EXACTLY how badly the U.S. medical system treats youngold, oldold, and reallyreallyold people. This is more than just that, but it wanders and rambles. Sometimes that‘s valuable, and sometimes not. Great for caregivers and people getting older.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2019
#elderhood #thanksnetgalley

“It was then that I saw what had been right in front of me my entire career: that the experiences of older people in our health care system are indicative of how current medical care is broken for all of us.”

⬆️ Why this book applies to everyone, not just the elderly and their caregivers.

#elderhood

The author works within the medical system, sees its failures, tries to help create success—based on what‘s appropriate for her elderly patients. She also gets deeply burned out, and is honest (if not fully transparent) about how that felt and how she recovered.

#elderhood

That last sentence goes like this, “It prioritizes treatment over prevention, parts over wholes, fixing over caring, averages over individuals, and the new over the proven.”

#elderhood

This book is very quotable, covering a wide variety of topics about the U.S. medical system and how it impacts people from about age 50 on. I read the ARC, so technically can‘t post as many quotes as I‘d like. But I‘ll throw a few out there from the ebook sample.

Review coming in a few hours!

#elderhood

This is a geriatrician‘s perspective on aging—how we treat it as individuals and a society. As always, I wish for more patient stories as less historical, philosophical information. #arc #netgalley #elderhood #aging #dignityandrespect