The Elderly Person as a Patient

When dealing with elderly people - whether they be physically iII, mentally iii, or both - the doctor often finds himself confronted with a wide variety of difficulties and dilemmas. And it is with such problems that this book is concerned. Discussed in it are biological and medical aspects of ageing, organic diseases such as rheumatic disorders and malignant tumours developing in old age, as well as psychiatric disturbances - reference repeatedly being made also to the forms which medicinal treatment, psychotherapeutic approaches, and prophylactic measures can or should take. If he is to cope satisfactorily with the task incumbent upon him, the doctor who has elderly patients entrusted to his care must be capable of "feeling his way" into their minds. As one experienced practitioner puts it: "The more successful the doctor is in empathising with the patient and the more he knows about the patient's needs, his social environment ..., and his past, the more the patient will feel that he is being understood and the greater the mutual trust between patient and doctor will be."