Forum Posts by
Carol Levine

Posted on February 19, 2019

“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 to be improved?  Will better food and gift bags do the trick? Or are more basic changes required? To answer that question, I turned to… Read more

Posted on September 12, 2017

For the first few years after my husband Howard died, I talked to him often. These were not ghostly, paranormal encounters; I was just thinking out loud about my life without him. Ten years later, these occasions happen less frequently, usually connected with an anniversary or a family event. In my imagination, he looks like… Read more

Posted on February 7, 2017

An old woman desperately needs medical attention. Yet she fiercely refuses every offer of help from friends, neighbors, and the local doctor. No one will get past her door, she vows. Respecting her autonomy means leaving her alone, possibly to die. Intervening to save her means risking her wrath and losing her friendship and respect.… Read more

Posted on September 7, 2016

In the bioethics world, all roads eventually lead to Hastings, whether that means the Center in Garrison, N.Y., or Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., where the Center was born in 1969 and lived for almost 20 years. The relationships among those who have worked at or visited Hastings make up a global network of scholars, clinicians, lawyers, researchers,… Read more

Posted on February 19, 2013

Goldilocks, all grown up and working as a Medicare hospice auditor, checks the records of three patients.  She frowns at Mr. Brown Bear’s record.  He was referred to hospice three days before he died, after spending several costly weeks in an acute care hospital, the last two in an intensive care unit. “This patient was… Read more

Posted on August 23, 2012

If movies are one window into the soul of America, “Robot and Frank” has some funny/sad things to say about our current approach to aging. Frank (Frank Langella, as charismatic as ever) is a retired cat burglar, losing his memory and generally deteriorating in his country home. Hunter, his concerned son, brings a robot to… Read more

Posted on January 18, 2012

The ancients looked to omens and portents to recognize signs of impending death. Today we do not rely on the ominous words of soothsayers, interpreting the entrails of chickens, or the appearance of owls to discern the odds of someone dying. We are more rational and sophisticated. We believe that computers hold the secrets of… Read more