Dr. Badr Ratnakaran, MBBS
Fellow in Geriatric Psychiatry
Carilion Clinic – Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Roanoke, VA
Dr. Badr Ratnakaran, Fellow in Geriatric Psychiatry at Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, is serving as an Editorial Fellow of AMA Journal of Ethics in curating a special theme issue on Geriatric Psychiatry. Twenty percent of the US population is expected to be 65 years of age or older by 2030. Ageism’s pervasiveness in US culture means it is also pervasive in healthcare and a cause of inequity that profoundly undermines elders’ quality of life. Independence and autonomy losses tend to accompany aging for all of us. Elders are vulnerable to exploitation and are exposed to late-life stressors that affect their mental health, accompany compromise or loss of independence and autonomy, and tend to track declines in general health and cognitive function. This theme issue also investigates reasons why diminishing numbers of geriatric mental health clinicians should draw clinical, ethical, and legal attention to whether US healthcare and its workforce is prepared to deliver the volume and quality of care elders deserve.
Manuscripts are invited for the October 2023 issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics® that discuss topics in geriatric psychiatry on ethical and humane mental health care of older adults. Manuscripts submitted for peer review consideration and inclusion in this issue must follow Instructions for Authors (https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/instructions-peer-review-manuscript-submission) and be submitted (https://amajournalofethics.msubmit.net/cgi-bin/main.plex) by 30 November 2022.
