Opinion: There’s no place like home for health care for the homebound
The estimated 400,000 elderly Americans who are completely homebound deserve more at-home care from their doctors.
“What do you think of the coconut water?”
I took a sip before sitting down on my patient’s brown living room sofa. “It’s delicious,” I said, and I meant it.
“Yes, and it treats diabetes,” Mrs. Hamilton (not her real name) added triumphantly.
She had always shunned my medical recommendations, relying instead on home remedies to treat her high cholesterol, diabetes, and arthritis. After many exasperating in-clinic appointments with her, my only victory had been getting her to take medication for her blood pressure.
Sipping the cool glass of coconut water in her living
