GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast

What is a care manager?  In this week’s podcast we talk with Chanee Fabius, who after a personal experience caring for a family member with dementia, became a care manager.  Chanee explains in clear…

A September 2000 New York Times article titled, “Sometimes Saving the Heart Can Mean Losing the Memory” describes a relatively newly described phenomena of difficulty with memory and other cognitive …

Frailty.  What the heck is it?  Why does it matter? How do we recognize it and if we do recognize it, is there anything we can do about it?   On today’s podcast we talk to Linda Fried, Dean of Columb…

Though origins of the term “moral injury” can be traced back to religious bioethics, most modern usage comes from a recognition of a syndrome of guilt, shame, and sense of betrayal experienced by sol…

During the winter peak in coronavirus cases, things got busy in my hospital, but nothing close to what happened in places like New York City last spring or Los Angeles this winter.  Hospitals in thes…

We know from study after study that most older adults would prefer to age in place, in their homes, with their families and embedded in their communities.  But our health system is in many ways not p…

There are no currently approved disease modifying drugs for Alzheimer's disease, but in a couple months that may change.   In July of 2021, the FDA will consider approval of a human monoclonal antibo…

One of our earliest COVID podcasts with Jim Wright and David Grabowski a year ago addressed the early devastating impact of COVID on nursing homes. 

One year ago Mike Wasserman, geriatrician and imm…

COVID has taken a devastated toll in nursing homes.  Despite representing fewer than 5% of the total US events, at least 40% of COVID‐19–related deaths occurred in older individuals living in nursing…

Hospice may not be a great match for all of the care needs of people with dementia, but it sure does help.  And, as often happens, when patients with dementia do not decline as expected, they are too…

The COVID pandemic brought to light many things, including how society views older adults. Louise Aronson wrote a piece in the NY Times titled “‘Covid-19 Kills Only Old People.’ Only? Why are we OK w…

So what exactly does a hospice medical director do?  Why do some choose to become hospice physicians?  What additional training is needed, if any, beyond Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship an…

Where are we with Alzheimers?  Are we about to see a revolution in how we diagnose and treat it with Amyloid PET scans and the amyloid antibody aducanumab (which is currently on FDA’s desk for approv…

Nursing home residents have been devastated by COVID.  Somewhere around 40% of deaths from COVID have been among nursing home residents, though they make up just a sliver of the US population.

Progno…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults have lived through a lifetime of discrimination, social stigma, prejudice, and marginalization.  Is the care that we are giving them in late…

On the one hand, every year we are fortunate to have new medications that help older adults and people living with serious illness.  New treatments for lung cancer with remarkable survival outcomes c…

Most of us know we are going to die.  How often though do we actually let ourselves really internalize that understanding?   To imagine it?  To feel it?  To try to accept it?

On today’s podcast we in…

Many of us in geriatrics and palliative care assume that we are the experts in health care when it comes to understanding the caregiver experience.  Every once in a while, we are humbled and reminded…

Surrogate decision‐making around life-sustaining treatments in the hospital even in the best of circumstances is hard.   It’s maybe even harder when caring for those who are conserved or have a profe…

“Diagnose and adios.”  That’s the sad phrase that I’ve heard quoted more than once, representing caregivers' sentiment of what it’s like to be told by a clinician that your loved one has dementia. 

T…