Walter Mosley

The Death With Dignity Debate Misses The Point

Ever since the death of Brittany Maynard--the 30-year old with terminal brain cancer who ended her own life last November-- the issue of physician-assisted suicide has received an enormous amount of attention.  Now it is back in the headlines as many states consider laws permitting the practice. It is an important and passionate debate, but for the vast majority of people, it misses [...]

By |2015-03-11T10:32:07-04:00March 11th, 2015|Aging, End of life|0 Comments

How the Arts Can Change Care for Elders and People with Disabilities

Yesterday morning, a veteran of the decades-long effort to improve the way we deliver and pay for long-term supports and services asked me a question. Why, he wondered, should he believe that recent attempts to reform long-term care could succeed when so many previous initiatives have failed.  Last evening, I may have found an answer. My wife and I went to see [...]

Walter Mosley On Becoming Marginalized in Old Age

Yesterday, I participated in an AARP program with several authors of books on caregiving. One fellow panelist, the novelist Walter Mosley, was wonderfully provocative as he reflected on what he calls “the great equalizing effect of great age.” Mosley, whose mother was Jewish and whose father was black, put it this way:  “White people become black people when they can [...]

By |2011-12-02T16:08:27-05:00December 2nd, 2011|Aging, dementia, End of life, family caregivers|0 Comments

Authors To Discuss the Challenges of Family Caregiving

On Thursday, I'll be participating in an ambitous program sponsored by AARP where  10 authors will discuss their experiences and views about the challenges of family caregiving. Most of us have had the personal experience of caring for family members and know about the subject first-hand. Some of our books, such as my own Caring for Our Parents, use the personal stories of caregivers to describe the nation's [...]

By |2011-11-28T19:17:29-05:00November 28th, 2011|family caregivers|2 Comments