When A Doctor No Longer Accepts Medicare, Patients Left Holding The Bag
As doctors look for alternative ways to charge patients for care, some Medicare enrollees may lose access to their physicians.
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As doctors look for alternative ways to charge patients for care, some Medicare enrollees may lose access to their physicians.
Some of Montana’s Native American nations are holding firm on coronavirus protections even as the rest of Montana reopens. They’ve got more at stake, they say, in protecting their elders who preserve their endangered culture.
The guidance to stay sheltered as society slowly reopens wears on older Americans, who have a growing sense of isolation and depression.
One family took up the challenge of taking their mother, who had serious medical problems and the coronavirus, from the hospital to die at home. But because of the risk of infection, home hospice can be a daunting experience.
The pandemic has forced millions of families to weigh the risks of vulnerable grandparents getting too close to their beloved grandchildren — against the heartache of staying away.
Poverty is real in the Coachella Valley, a region known for its glitzy resorts and music festival. During the COVID crisis, the California National Guard and California Conservation Corps are helping an area food bank distribute food to older residents and those with disabilities.
Testing for COVID-19 varies widely across nursing homes and assisted living facilities, even within the same states and communities — increasing the risks for some of America’s most vulnerable seniors.
Still, medical experts say, it’s not a black-and-white decision of either go on a ventilator or die.
Even as COVID-19 has ravaged nursing homes around the country, California has managed to keep the virus at bay at its eight state-run homes for frail and older veterans. What exactly went right?
Elizabeth and Robert Mar would have celebrated 50 years of marriage in August. Instead, they died within a day of each other. Their two very different deaths illustrate how palliative care is changing to help patients and families cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
Nursing homes with COVID-19 infections tend to violate health rules more often and have more complaints and fines, records show. But infections also plague highly rated facilities — while sparing some low-ranked ones.
“The awful truth is families have no control over what’s happening,� one advocate says.
Older bodies respond to infection in different ways. Seniors may sleep more or stop eating. They may be confused or dizzy. They might simply collapse.
Twins Edna Mayes and Ethel Sylvester, 92, are relying on each other through the pandemic, in which one of the hidden dangers is to their mental health.
For older adults in retirement communities ― a population especially vulnerable to COVID-19 — striking a balance between reducing the risk of contracting the coronavirus and maintaining the quality of life is a new frontier.
Reports offer a glimmer of hope, especially for older adults.
The Capital Senior Living chain of assisted living communities and others like it were struggling financially before coronavirus suddenly appeared. Now their situation is really getting tough.
The coronavirus death toll in Palm Beach County — home to President Donald Trump’s palatial home and club, Mar-a-Lago ― is the highest in Florida, where the large senior population is at risk.
The prospect raises a grim dilemma: Should doctors take people off life support in order to save COVID-19 patients who might recover?
Its older volunteers are staying home and its clients, mostly age 75 and up, are more vulnerable than ever.
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