Nasty, Brutish and Long: Adventures in Eldercare

In nursing homes across the country, members of the Greatest Generation are living out their last days. Life is a succession of pokes and prods, medications, TV, bingo and, possibly, talking to Ira Rosofsky. With a compassionate eye but mordant wit, Rosofsky, a psychologist charged with gauging the mental health of his elders, reveals a culture based not in the empathy of caretaking, but rather in the coolly detached bureaucracy of Nursing Homes. A portrayal of what is increasingly becoming the last slice of life for many, NASTY, BRUTISH AND LONG is also a baby boomer’s poignant meditation on mortality, a reflection on his caregiving for his parents’ final days, and an examination of the choices that we, as a society, have made about health care for the elderly who are no longer of sound mind and body.