The holidays can be difficult for families dealing with Alzheimer's, especially if the person with the disease is the one who used to be the heart and soul of Christmas.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly for Kris Penny, who pulled fiber-optic cables for a living. Then he got a cancer called mesothelioma that's almost always tied to asbestos exposure.
A new app called Be My Eyes pairs blind people with sighted volunteers who help them with daily tasks that require vision, at home and outside. It's part of a new "micro-volunteering" trend online.
Budget cuts and rising costs are imperiling California's programs for people with developmental disabilities. The state had led the nation in providing innovative community based services.
Sophie Sartain watched her grandmother take care of her intellectually disabled aunt, Dona, and thought that she could never be that devoted. Then her son was diagnosed with autism.
A Seattle businessman left most of his fortune to a blindness organization he never contacted in life. Why the gift? Maybe, the evidence hints, to help others take the psychological leap he couldn't.
Doctors were once unquestioned authorities on how aggressively to treat the sickest and most premature babies. Then parents started pushing back for more say. The responsibility can be excruciating.
As families consider how far to push an infant's medical care, a chasm can open between the parents' hopes and what doctors and nurses consider realistic. How do you measure a baby's quality of life?
Elder abuse is underestimated, researchers say, and includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse as well as financial exploitation. Doctors, lawyers or banks are often the first to spot problems.
"You can evaluate the person as a whole," says Dr. Roberta Miller, who has been a home care physician for more than 20 years. The traditional house call may be the future of medicine.