Quality and Quality of Life

There have been numerous efforts to measure quality of health care, especially among the elderly.  For instance, Nursing Home Compare measures of quality of care for nursing homes.  However, these quality measures focus on health and safety.  They do not measure quality of life.  Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal describes why nursing homes focus more on…

Checking in on my 96-year old grandmother

My grandmother is 96 years old and incredibly lives on her own.  My mother drops off packages of food she prepares for my grandmother and gets her mail, but my grandmother still does her laundry and gets herself ready in the morning. Bringing in some help for her or moving her to an assisted living…