Caught In The Middle

So there are a lot of famous middles – there’s the middle infield and middle lane, the middle class and middle America, and of course the monkey in the recess yard game. There’s also the middle finger. And more lately it seems patients are ending up in the middle but not in a good way. I’m hearing a lot of complaints for instance from women in their late 60s to mid 70s with heart disease and osteoporosis. My own mom, God bless her, has had to try to navigate a doctor saying she needed an infusion due to her bone density test. To her credit, she read the instructions that warned of contraindications if she has jawbone issues, which she does, so she called her dentist who said “don’t get the infusion, get a pill,” which has bounced mom back to the specialist who said the dentist is probably wrong. This is the latest for older patients like mom who have to weigh conflicting recommendations all the time, like increasing calcium with a yogurt-heavy diet only to hear from cardiologists about risks of many good-tasting yogurts. She’s caught – in the middle – like Malcolm from the TV series – smart enough to read directions and listen but like the teenage character, struggling to find her place in her own healthcare. My own teenager Tommy says the entire situation “is just so mid Dad” – which in generation Z slang apparently means low quality. If you’re in your 40s, 50s or 60s, you’re likely caught in the middle trying to help your folks and your kids navigate life in the 2020s, answering questions about technology that didn’t seem possible a generation ago. If you’re in healthcare, the question is can you figure out how to help those in the middle?