Will Kate Fall Again?

Kate is an 84-year-old widow with mild Alzheimer’s Disease. She lives alone and in the past year she has lost 10 pounds. She has also fallen multiple times. This is serious. The last time she fell she was on the floor for at least 8 hours. Her daughter called and then came by when Kate didn’t answer the phone. She was hospitalized for a condition called rhabdomyolysis. Afterwards, she was in a skilled nursing facility before returning home. She regained weight and received physical therapy. The daughter has “decluttered” the apartment to decrease the risk […]

What is Causing this Person’s Weight Loss?

In my last post I talked about a patient who had some bleeding in her brain. That was the obvious diagnosis. However, I'm frustrated because an important diagnosis was missed. It was immediately obvious that she was severely underweight. I looked through her chart carefully. Her weight had gone from 89 pounds to 74 pounds in a little bit over a year. No one had mentioned this.

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