Geriatrics: a specialty in search of specialists

This paper explores the historical reasons why geriatrics has failed to become a popular specialty in America. Focusing upon the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it examines the medical theories and ideas that led to the creation of a specialty in the diseases of old age. According to Haber, these beliefs caused many would-be geriatricians to be extremely reluctant to devote themselves to the new field. While such physicians were often convinced that a separate practice for the old was both theoretically valid and necessary, they were far less sure of the ultimate usefulness of their work. The prevailing model of senescence portrayed old age as a progressive, incurable disease, and the elderly as the most difficult and trying of patients. Medically, as well as economically, geriatrics seemed to have little appeal. The author concludes that these beliefs still influence many physicians' conception of geriatrics; it remains a specialty in search of specialists.