Pulitzer prize-winning aging
activist, geriatric physician, geriatric psychiatrist, and aging change agent Dr.
Robert Butler devoted his career to the rights of older adults, especially
bigotry, scapegoating, and degradation that permeated the medical profession. He
sought to improve their quality of life, social status, and medical care and it
became his life work and passion.
In 1975, Dr. Butler founded
the National Institute on Aging [NIH] at the National Institutes of Health. His
book, Why Survive? Being Old in America,
won Dr. Butler the Pulitzer Prize in 1976. In 1982, he created the first
geriatrics department in an American medical school at Mount Sinai Medical
Center. He later founded and led the nonprofit International Longevity Center
to promote and study “productive” aging over the life course. One of his final
projects, completed in 2009 before his death at age 83 in 2010, was the
documentary film, I Remember Better When
I Paint. The award-winning documentary examines the positive impact of art
on people with dementia and their contributions to society (Ellena & Huebner, 2009).
I believe Dr. Butler’s most
important contribution was assigning a name to the prejudice he witnessed against
old people seeking medical care. He coined the term, “ageism” way back in 1969.
He initially confronted this bigotry among his medical school colleagues and
was outraged that their medical needs were not being taken seriously. Behind
their backs, his colleagues made fun of the “codgers” and “crocks.” At the end of his life, Dr. Butler conceded
that not much progress had been made toward ending ageism.
Among gerontologists, Dr. Butler is a legend. I met Dr. Butler at a
scientific meeting in 2006 and he asked me to sit down and talk and so I did. The entire
dining room was empty except for Dr. Butler and his security detail. I asked “the
godfather of gerontology” for career advice and he provided his pearls of
wisdom. He wasn’t hurried and he was a good listener as if he had all the time
in the world. Dr. Butler asked me
questions about my long-range and short-range goals. He explained how I could
help promote productive aging and combat ageism. It is a conversation burned
into my brain. The next time I saw Dr. Butler was at another scientific meeting. He walked up to me and asked how I was doing and
we chatted for a while about how I was applying his advice. He looked tired and
had lost weight. I found out that he had
leukemia and he died a short time later. Leukemia did not keep him away from
the meeting! That inspired me. I have been following his guidance now for
fourteen years.
Before his death in 2010, Dr. Butler stated that ageism remained
rampant in medical settings (Achenbaum, 2013, p. 168). Older adults
were treated in hospitals but not typically for sexually transmitted diseases,
substance abuse, or mental illness, as the medical community collectively chose
to ignore those conditions among older people (Achenbaum, 2013). Then, the
policy makers reduced funding for important programs targeting older adults.
Recently, the pandemic has illuminated ignorance and bias of older adults. It
is assumed that old people get sick and then live in nursing homes until they
die, even among policy makers. According to Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey, 69% of
CV-19 deaths have occurred in nursing homes where every patient has serious
health conditions (PBS, 2020). He discussed the "elderly" population and suggested that their deaths were inevitable. [The nomenclature "elderly" is identified as a pejorative term and it has not been used in gerontology for over 25 years.] What senator Toomey failed to recognize is that
of the 1.3 million patients in nursing homes, 14% are under age sixty-four
(Centers for Disease Control, 2016). Toomey’s assumption that all residents in
nursing homes are old sick people is another example of scapegoating and bias.
Fifty-one years
after first writing about ageism and coining a new term, there has not been advancement toward diminishing or abolishing bigotry and ambivalence
toward older adults. Despite the lack of progress, I recommend reading Achenbaum’s book and I believe you
will appreciate Butler’s passion and incredible contribution he made to the
field of geriatrics and gerontology. Won't you join me in promoting "productive aging" and reducing bigotry and ageism toward older adults?
References:
Achenbaum, W.A. (2013). Robert N. Butler, MD: Visionary of healthy
aging. New York: Columbia University Press.
Butler R.N. (1969). Age-ism: another form of bigotry. Gerontologist,
4(1).
243‐246. doi:10.1093/geront/9.4_part_1.243 Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c31c/60684ed6a62e5142700842f4adc34435189c.pdf
CDC/National Center for
Health Statistics (2016, March 11). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/nursing-home-care.htm
Ellena, E., & Huebner,
B. (2009, November 4). I Remember Better
When I Paint Clip.[Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54AtoQVGfwU
PBS News Hour (2020, May
19). Weighing the risks. Retrieved
from
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