Tales From Geriatric Practice

• Tragic End to a Fairytale: The Case I Wish I Could Rewrite A patient of mine who had Parkinson's disease and depression called me at home. She needed a next-day appointment. I made her one. But I wish that I'd done more.
  Medscape Family Medicine, May 17, 2022
• Serotonin Syndrome? Not So Fast, Sherlock My patient's confusion and tremors persisted after her serotonergic meds were stopped. Then I asked her husband when she was last like her old self, and the diagnosis became clear.
  Medscape Family Medicine, February 15, 2022
• We All Sundown, Don't We? Each of us has awakened in an unfamiliar bed and wondered, for a split second, Where am I? Imagine not being able to reconcile your location.
  Medscape Family Medicine, December 15, 2021
• My New Patient Was Taking 43 Prescription Drugs She came to our facility with a laundry list of medications and a belief that if 1 pill was good, 2 must be better.
  Medscape Family Medicine, November 17, 2021
• Abandoned? Harassed? How Patients View Family Visits Both of my patients had families who made visits to their loved one a priority. But neither patient was happy. They had different reasons for that.
  Medscape Family Medicine, October 20, 2021
• Beyond Medical Boundaries: Could This Be Witchcraft? There had been an argument. A member of the patient's immigrant community had uttered an incantation. What followed in her medical course could not easily be explained.
  Medscape Family Medicine, September 14, 2021
• The Older We Are, the More Unique We Become Despite having one thing in common (their advanced age), my four patients couldn't have been more different.
  Medscape Family Medicine, August 18, 2021
• The Peculiar Timing of Death A lesson learned early in my medical career was poignantly underscored many years later.
  Medscape Family Medicine, July 14, 2021
• Living to 100 Age 99 was not good enough. My patient enlisted my help to change her advance directive. She wanted to make it to 100, and she wanted the birthday card to show for it.
  Medscape Family Medicine, June 09, 2021
• Casanova on the Dementia Unit While my patient's memory faded, his passion for life did not. So, how to resolve the complications and jealousy that resulted from his romantic rendezvous?
  Medscape Family Medicine, April 19, 2021
• The Patient Who Changed Her Mind My patient thanked me for not honoring her end-of-life wishes and for saving her life. But that wasn't exactly what happened.
  Medscape Family Medicine, March 09, 2021