Life Done Right™

Everyone knows the phrase “wife beater” but who ever heard of a “Santa beater” who preys on elderly women handing out religious pamphlets and then accuses her of stealing his stuff in order to justify the fact that he beat her to death?? The lady was 74-years-old for Christ’s sake. Forget Santa coming down the [...]

If you thought that “stimulus” program from the Bush Administration had something to do with restoring the economic power of the United States, then you may as well pack your bags and flee to Mexico, because “the seniors left out will be those of low income who rely solely or mostly on Social Security benefits, [...]

An editorial in the Savannah (Georgia) Morning News calls for a reform in the state driving laws. They advocate that “state lawmakers should require changes in education, licensing and highway engineering to help ensure traffic safety.” Forget the age discrimination issue. If you have trouble seeing at night, have slower response times, or think [...]

You gotta love it…Japan is discovering that housing aging inmates requires “a major revamp of its jails to provide elevators, handrails and wheelchair ramps for incarcerated seniors.” Hell, if it costs $8,000 per month or more to park someone in a nursing home, maybe we could all save some money by giving away all our [...]

Here’s the setup: an 85-year-old Baltimore woman who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cataracts and a benign brain tumor can function fine in an assisted living facility but doesn’t qualify for Medicaid aid unless she goes into a nursing. The state of Maryland was told to reconsider her plight [...]

Telemarketers make a living by convincing a person at the other end of the phone to cough up some bucks, sometimes lots of bucks, for usually absurd reasons. A good portion of the time the solicitation is two words away from a felony. This editorial makes it clear that a phone that rings throughout the [...]

It’s bad enough that nursing homes stink like rotting flesh and a fair portion of the residents are simply waiting for the invisible hand of darkness to snatch them from their misery, but now comes word that while you were feeling good about dumping off your loved one there, relieved that it was no longer [...]

The whole concept of a hospice flirts with the idea that death normally lingers outside your door for a couple of weeks or months before breaking it down with a vengeance. Nobody said anything about it hanging around for years. The reality is that the type of patient who might end up in a hospice [...]

The t-shirt reads “It Wasn’t Me,” but somehow this man ended up in a police station where his mug shot was taken. Thanks to Smoking Gun such t-shirt trivia is now part of the visual history of social gossip. This man could be your neighbor. No clue what he was arrested for but thank god [...]

A woman’s father suffered several debilitating strokes so she hired a home caregiver to help her out with the daily living tasks required to maintain his health. The caregiver, unfortunately, found it necessary to slap, punch and intimidate the man in order to get her job done. The daughter installed a security camera and [...]

There are lots of way to get screwed in the world. Some are self-inflicted out of ignorance, others are the result of greed, and more than likely some are the work of a demented mind that finds it acceptable to take advantage of another human being for their own gain. Add to the list [...]

End of life scenarios involve all kinds of strange situations that require gut-wrenching decisions. Cost-benefit analysis accountants would probably argue that spending gobs of money to keep someone alive for a few extra weeks knowing full well the end is near only makes sense if you are in the business of running a hospital.
But then [...]

Add one more reason to question the values of Catholicism as preached by those who profess to act in selfless servitude to he who goes by the name of God. If you weren’t shocked, yes shocked, by the rampant sexual abuse behavior of priests, then you probably won’t mind a priest here or there preying [...]

What a strange image to picture so close to Halloween. The body of a woman in her 70’s was found in Hougang canal in Singapore. The report says she had “curly hair and was wearing a brown long-sleeved shirt and white long pants.” Police are not sure if she accidentally fell into the river or [...]

This is a terrible story. Imagine being a mother of 11 and a grandmother of 50 only to find yourself one day confronted by a 17-year-old punk who rapes and kills you. Awful. Just awful. No motivation either. Not a good Thank God It’s Friday story. Hopefully this kid’s minor status does not prevent him [...]

When death is just around the cemetery door it doesn’t really matter how much money you might have, or how big your house is, or whether you know important people. All that matters is your health. Those who wind up in a hospice are discovering that their desperate need to stay alive is fertile ground [...]

It takes a special person to shoot and kill a flower vendor. Wang Thao Lee, 74, was shot down outside his home as he was getting ready to head off to the farmer’s market in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. What could the killer have possibly got from him? A couple of bucks? It just makes you ill, [...]

Privatization, the rebel yell of the Bush administration, is supposed to be the bitter pill that solves all the woes of publicly funded social programs. Just throw that Medicaid cash at private companies and by god they’ll run those nursing far more efficiently than some yahoo public company CEO. Well, the facts are in and [...]

More bad news from Kolkata, West Bengal. An elderly couple (58 and 54) poisoned their son (36) and then attempted to take their own lives. Why? Because they allegedly went bankrupt caring for their only son who suffered from what appeared to be cerebral palsy. They checked into a private lodge in Sealdah under the [...]

How’s your geography? Think you could locate Kolkata on the world map? Have any clue, even, which country claims this city as its own? Try West Bengal. Kolkata is in the news because an older couple (60 and 55) were riding a bus and couldn’t jump off it while it was moving like most younger [...]