We include this narrative essay by a physician—published in a health care journal—because it’s a great example of the ways that narrative can enliven and enlighten discourse about complicated and difficult topics. Winakur dispenses with the sterilized language of health care policy and medicine, writing with honesty and grace. In doing so he helps explicate and get at the heart of issues surrounding aging and long-term care. His ending, in particular, is powerful in the way it reveals Winakur’s difficult emotional bind.
What Are We Going To Do with Dad?
Health Affairs
Featured July 1, 2005 A doctor writes about his 86-year-old ailing father—and illuminates problems with elder care and the personal struggle of caring for one's aging parents.
Featured July 1, 2005 A doctor writes about his 86-year-old ailing father—and illuminates problems with elder care and the personal struggle of caring for one's aging parents.
Jerald Winakur has practiced internal medicine and geriatrics in San Antonio, Texas, for almost 30 years. His essays, fiction and poetry have been published in numerous journals, and for many years he was a contributing editor of "Mediphors: A Literary Journal of the Health Professions." Dr. Winakur's book, "What Are We Going To Do With Dad?", a memoir-manifesto, is forthcoming from Hyperion Books. He is an associate faculty member at the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and a lecturer in humanities at the University of Texas at San Antonio.