MedPage Today September 7, 2024
— Fueling denial of the realities of aging comes at a great cost
“I can’t tell my patients the truth any longer because they get upset, as if I were insulting them.”
This is what a colleague of mine said after his 85-year-old patient, whom I will call Kathy*, expressed dissatisfaction with the office visit. Attributing her knee pain to degenerative joint disease and explaining that this is a common occurrence “later in life” was apparently perceived as a slight. The x-ray report, clearly documenting the changes of arthritis, was not enough to satisfy Kathy who, reportedly, could not understand why her symptoms or condition should be attributed “just to old age.” She was tired of hearing that so many...
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Topics: Patient / Consumer