Aging

Cremation has become Americans’ most popular choice for the postmortem treatment of their bodies. But the process involves burning fossil fuels, which may release toxic gases. “The New Old Age” columnist Paula Span appeared on WAMU’S Oct. 8 “Health Hub” to explain some of the more environmentally friendly alternatives. Green burials are gaining popularity as […]

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. A reporter at Just the News shared our article about a man whose organs were nearly harvested while he was still alive: Disinformed consent is standard operating procedure in the organ […]

Siguiendo el ejemplo del sector privado de seguros, la administración Trump lanzará el próximo año un programa piloto para evaluar cuánto dinero podría ahorrar el gobierno federal al negar atención médica a pacientes de Medicare mediante un algoritmo de inteligencia artificial (IA). El programa está diseñado para eliminar servicios considerados innecesarios o de “bajo valor” […]

Taking a page from the private insurance industry’s playbook, the Trump administration will launch a program next year to find out how much money an artificial intelligence algorithm could save the federal government by denying care to Medicare patients. The pilot program, designed to weed out wasteful, “low-value” services, amounts to a federal expansion of […]

For a while, walking the dog felt hazardous. Earl Vickers was accustomed to taking Molly, his shepherd-boxer-something-else mix, for strolls on the beach or around his neighborhood in Seaside, California. A few years ago, though, he started to experience problems staying upright. “If another dog came toward us, every single time I’d end up on […]

Durante un tiempo, pasear al perro se volvió peligroso. Earl Vickers solía sacar a Molly, su perra mezcla de pastor alemán, bóxer y algo más, a caminar por la playa o por su vecindario en Seaside, California. Sin embargo, hace algunos años comenzó a tener problemas para mantenerse en pie. “Cada vez que otro perro […]

Our annual family vacation on Cape Cod included all the familiar summer pleasures: climbing dunes, walking beaches, spotting seals, eating oysters, reading books we had intended to get to all year. And a little shopping. My grandkid wanted a few small toys. My daughter stocked up on thousand-piece jigsaw puzzles at the game store in […]

Cada año, durante nuestras vacaciones familiares en Cape Cod, disfrutamos de todos los placeres clásicos del verano: escalar dunas, caminar por la playa, observar focas, comer ostras y leer los libros que nos habíamos propuesto durante todo el año. También hacer compras. Mi nieto quería unos juguetes pequeños. Mi hija aprovechó para llevarse varios rompecabezas […]

John McGing couldn’t reach a human. That might be business-as-usual in this economy, but it wasn’t business; he had called the Social Security Administration, where the questions often aren’t generic and the callers tend to be older, disabled, or otherwise vulnerable Americans. McGing, calling on behalf of his son, had an in-the-weeds question: how to […]