Getting Sick While Getting Well--Post-Hospital Syndrome

An article a few weeks ago in the New York Times highlighted what you may have noticed or suspected: going into the hospital creates additional problems for many people. We might have imagined that a loved one "picks up" a problem in the hospital--a flu or infection, but post-hospital syndrome is more than that.

Paula Span, writing in the column, "The New Old Age" highlights the research that shows that the stress of being hospitalized kicks off a host of other issues/illnesses in a person already vulnerable.

That vulnerability might be a cardiac problem, aging or cancer. It's a bit of "whack-a-mole" healthcare or "go in with one--come out with three" medical issues.

You've heard people say, "Hospitals make people sicker." Don't roll your eyes, there is more than a grain of truth in that. It's not the hospital per se, but the stress of being in a  hospital that can compromise your health.

Here's the article from the New York Times. Link below right here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/health/post-hospital-syndrome-elderly.html