Ageism in health care is more common than you might think, and it can harm people
Assumptions that older people are one big, frail, homogenous group can lead to problems, says the author of Elderhood.
A recent study found that older people spend an average of 21 days a year on medical appointments. Kathleen Hayes can believe it.
Hayes lives in Chicago and has spent a lot of time lately taking her parents, who are both in their 80s, to doctor's appointments. Her dad has Parkinson's, and her mom has had a difficult recovery from a bad bout of Covid-19. As she's sat in, Hayes has noticed some health care workers talk to her parents at top volume, to the point, she says, "that my father said
