Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1 Introduction 1
2 "You're a What?": Understanding How Geriatricians Think About Aging 12
3 The Biology of Aging: An Embarrassment of Riches That You Were Never Supposed to Need 26
4 A Geriatrician's Perspective on Ageism: It's Not Just Grandpa Who's Being Put Out to Pasture 42
5 Do No Harm, but for God's Sake, Do Something! 52
6 Cookbook Medicine: A Recipe for Disaster at Any Age 65
7 Bedside Matters: Do You Have an Aging-Friendly Primary Care Doctor? 78
8 How Many Specialists Does It Take to Screw in a Lightbulb (or Screw You Up)? 105
9 Care Transitions as We Get Older: Cracks You Didn't Even Know You Could Fall Through 116
10 No Place for Sick People: Hospitals as We Get Older 131
11 You Could Become Geriatric Just Waiting: How to Emerge from the Emergency Room Unscathed 156
12 In Search of an Honorable Discharge 173
13 Maybe You're Not the Problem: Disability Caused by Places and Not People (or Their Diseases) 192
14 Homes Away from Home as We Age 203
15 Medications as We Age 224
16 Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Vitamins, and Supplements: Who Do You Believe? 235
17 Money and Aging 257
18 Financial Gerontology: The Good, the Bad, and the Phony 275
19 It Ain't Over Till It's Over (and Sometimes Not Even Then): A Geriatrician Talks about Death and Dying 294
20 Staying in Control: Making and Encouraging Good Choices as We Age 319
21 It's Never Too Late ... 350
Appendix 361
Notes 371
Index 379
