My Mother the Gardener
Abstract
My mother died at age 90 years from complications of a fall at home. The “at home” part was the triumph of her last decade. Having spent 3 years in a German slave camp during World War II, she was terrified of institutional settings. Assisted-living facilities and nursing homes were tantamount to prisons, in my mother's view, and woe to anyone who suggested otherwise. As a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) designee, power of attorney holder, and...