Author: Daniel Callahan
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Remembering Sherwin Nuland
The death last week of Dr. Sherwin Nuland, author of the prize-winning 1994 book, How We Die, reminded me of a line in that book “about our society’s denial of the naturalness, even the necessity of death.” Death in an ICU, he wrote, was the “purest form” of that denial, but more broadly he wrote,…
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Our Aging World
Most of us over 65 were raised in an era dominated by a concern for excessive population growth. Paul Ehrlich made himself and that issue famous with his 1968 book, The Population Bomb. An organization called Zero Population Growth (ZPG) drew thousands of supporters who believed that not only did the developing countries have a…
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Fixing the Technological Fix
Perhaps like many of my age, I am not captivated by a number of much-touted technological innovations, increasing choices I don’t desire, and fulfilling needs I didn’t realize I had. I am not sure that having a cell phone at the ready every minute of the day and night to bring messages, pictures, and apps…
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Learning from Our Elders
A recent phone call led me to reflect on how over 65ers can help younger folks learn about aging. Three months ago I received a call from Langley Danowitz, daughter of Emily Lublin, a long time patient of mine, who had died in 2000 at age 84. (Langley had seen me quoted in a New York…
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Irony, Resilience, and Late-Life Depression
I recently read two fascinating articles by Bill Randall, professor of gerontology at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, Canada: “Aging, Irony, and Wisdom: On the Narrative Psychology of Later Life” and “The Importance of Being Ironic: Narrative Openness and Personal Resilience in Later Life.” Two quotes convey the core perspectives I took from Randall’s…
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Aging, Stereotypes, and Reality
I have heard for many years, informally and in scholarly journals, that ageism reigns in our society, and in particular that employers are biased against older workers. That last point is frequently made by many observers, who can cite a good bit of data showing that those over 50 who have lost jobs in the…
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Unreasonable Health Choices
Long before reaching 65, most people know all too well the costs of decades of going against their own best interests by engaging in practices they knew carried risks for their health – as with smoking or overeating. In at least some respects, they resonate to Oscar Wilde’s “I can resist everything except temptation.” Even…
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Alliance Between the Generations for Responsible Medicare Savings
There’s no way to address long term financial health in the U.S. without including Medicare savings in the mix. But political action has been stymied by fear among politicians that we over 65ers will rebel against any and every proposal to contain Medicare costs.