The title of this month's column is probably not the best play on words but it does seem to get peoples' attention. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States and among people with disabilities it's having a similar effect. With medical advancements, greater access to health care, and improved living conditions, people with physical and cognitive disabilities are living substantially longer than they did in the last century and only in rare cases are they dying from conditions that used to shorten their life expectancy such as pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, congenital heart defects, and infections. Physicians who specialize in health care for people with disabilities are starting to take notice that the physical dimensions of a broken heart are as important as the emotional ones.
Read the entire column at http://www.ncpad.org/612/2564/Don~t~Die~of~a~Broken~Heart~This~Valentine~s~Day.