Hastings Center News
What Do We Owe Frail Older People?
A woman juggles caring for her aged father at home and going to work. A volunteer cares for an 83-year-old man who lives alone and wonders why the man’s son...Bioethics Forum Essay
Palliative Care vs. Cancer Research
The death of former first lady Barbara Bush at age 92 was noteworthy in many ways. She was by all accounts smart, sharp and funny, and a fine, helpful wife...Hastings Center News
What Does It Mean to be a Good Citizen in an Aging Society?
That question was the focus of “Long Term Care in New York City, circa 2030,” a panel discussion hosted by the New York City Bar Association on May 3 that included...Read “What Does It Mean to be a Good Citizen in an Aging Society?”
Hastings Center News
What Makes a Good Life Late in Life? Nobel Prize Winner and Leading Bioethicist Offer Insights
Eric Kandel, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine who has done groundbreaking work on the molecular mechanisms of memory, spoke at The Hastings Center on May...Bioethics Forum Essay
A Single-Payer Bubble?
In an earlier piece, “Trumping Drug Costs,” I looked at out-of-pocket costs as the pivotal issue with drugs. They can be a particularly heavy burden on the elderly, taking money...Hastings Center News
Hastings Scholar Examines the Financial Burden of Long-Term Care
Nearly 11 million Americans use long-term care for help with daily tasks such as bathing and preparing meals, and yet few have private long-term care insurance. Thus, most of the...Read “Hastings Scholar Examines the Financial Burden of Long-Term Care”
Hastings Center News
Envisioning “Good Care at Home” for Older Adults in an Aging Society
How should we think about the ethics of everyday interpersonal relationships focused on giving and receiving care? When home is also a care setting, how can family members and other...Read “Envisioning “Good Care at Home” for Older Adults in an Aging Society”
Bioethics Forum Essay
What Dr. Seuss Saw at the Golden Years Clinic
“Improving patient experience” has become the mantra of many health care facilities in a highly competitive and regulated environment. But just what is it about the patient experience that needs...Hastings Center News
Dementia and the Ethics of Choosing When to Die
Hastings Center News
A Preview of Our New Research Agenda: Ethics of Population Aging
In a new essay in the Health Affairs Blog Grantswatch, Hastings Center research scholar Nancy Berlinger and president Mildred Z. Solomon offer a glimpse of the Center’s major new research agenda on the ethics of population aging, with a focus on the precarity of older adults, questions of justice, and issues of personal choice. The work is made possible by a generous grant to The Hastings Center from The Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust as part of its visionary support for the Center’s research and public engagement on ethical challenges facing aging societies.Read “A Preview of Our New Research Agenda: Ethics of Population Aging”
Hastings Center News
Watch the Livestream: Aging in [A] Place Symposium
Public discussion and policy often cite “aging in place” as a way to improve quality of life and reduce costs of older people. However, in part because of socioeconomic differences and structural inequalities, not all older adults can live in or move to age-supportive communities, neighborhoods, or homes that match their values and needs.These challenges are the focus of a public event cosponsored by The Hastings Center and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.Bioethics Forum Essay
On Being an Elder in a Pandemic
Do the elderly have special obligations during a pandemic, that is, something more than the duty we all have for hand washing, social distancing, and so on? I believe the answer is, yes, and foremost among these is an obligation for parsimonious use of newly scarce and expensive health care resources.Bioethics Forum Essay
A Covid-19 Side Effect: Virulent Resurgence of Ageism
Of all the “isms,” ageism is arguably the hardest to address because old age neither a valued stage of life nor an identity that many claim. The coronavirus pandemic may have made that effort even harder.Read “A Covid-19 Side Effect: Virulent Resurgence of Ageism”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Why I Don’t Support Age-Related Rationing During the Covid Pandemic
Some bioethicists support age-related rationing of ventilators during the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to save the most lives. But that goal might be better realized without strict age cutoffs.Read “Why I Don’t Support Age-Related Rationing During the Covid Pandemic”
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Should the FDA Have Approved the New Alzheimer’s Drug?
Should Patients Take It? Monday, July 12, 2021 The Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated approval of a new Alzheimer’s drug has created a firestorm of praise and outrage. Dissenters include...Read “Should the FDA Have Approved the New Alzheimer’s Drug?”
Hastings Center News
TRANSCRIPT – Breakthrough or Breakdown: Should the FDA Have Approved the New Alzheimer’s Drug?
[Transcript created by voice recognition] Danielle Pacia, The Hastings Center Hello and welcome to Breakthrough or Breakdown. Should the FDA have approved the new Alzheimer’s drug, a Hastings Center conversation?...Bioethics Forum Essay
Individuals Declared Brain-Dead Remain Biologically Alive
A remarkable experiment raises anew questions about whether brain-death is really death.Read “Individuals Declared Brain-Dead Remain Biologically Alive”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Housing an Aging Society: Five Priorities
While home and neighborhood environments matter to all people, older age brings particular considerations related to housing cost, safety and accessibility, neighborhood livability, links between the home and supportive services,...Hastings Center News
Love and Loss with Amy Bloom
Bestselling author Amy Bloom‘s world was altered forever when an MRI indicated that her husband Brian had Alzheimer’s disease. Together, led by Brian, Brian and Amy made the decision to travel to Switzerland to access an assisted dying process...Bioethics Forum Essay
The Place in “Aging in Place”: Housing Equity in Late Life
Most older Americans want to age “in place” – in the community, not an institution. But there's a poor fit between our nation’s housing stock and our aging demographics.Read “The Place in “Aging in Place”: Housing Equity in Late Life”
RESEARCH PROJECT
Housing Choice for Older Adults: Supporting Community Conversations About Housing Policy
Principal Investigator: Nancy Berlinger Co-Investigators: Jennifer Molinsky, Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, and Lauren Taylor, NYU Grossman School of Medicine and The Hastings Center Funder: Greenwall Foundation...Read “Housing Choice for Older Adults: Supporting Community Conversations About Housing Policy”
Hastings Center News
A Housing Lens for Policy Ideas on Aging
Most Americans want to age in place, but that goal relies on housing affordability, accessibility, and proximity to services. A new project, led by Hastings Center research scholar Nancy Berlinger,...Bioethics Forum Essay
This Wasn’t the Plan: A Family Caregiver’s Recommended Readings from 2023
Work and life overlapped significantly for me in 2023. The timeframe for the latest project in the Bioethics for Aging Societies portfolio—a Greenwall Foundation-funded analysis of ways to support aging...Read “This Wasn’t the Plan: A Family Caregiver’s Recommended Readings from 2023”
Hastings Center News
Facing Dementia: Clarifying End-of-Life Choices, Supporting Better Lives
A new Hastings Center special report considers how America’s aging society responds to the needs and concerns of people facing dementia. New therapies that may slow progression of this terminal...Read “Facing Dementia: Clarifying End-of-Life Choices, Supporting Better Lives”
