When for-profit corporate nursing homes put profits before people, it can result in tragedy. The reality is, nursing homes are big business, and as corporations, they are answerable to their shareholders for increased profits, not to their residents. And by streamlining care, nursing homes can increase profits.
Chemical restraints are becoming an increasingly common way for caregivers to streamline care by sedating seniors who are energetic or simply active. Chemical restraints are generally powerful antipsychotic drugs that cause elders to become confused, disoriented, and even catatonic. What is especially frightening is that these powerful and dangerous drugs are regularly given to elders with no psychiatric diagnosis, but rather to individuals who complain or argue with caregivers about their care.
There are far greater risks to chemical restraints than delirium. According to the American Association for Justice, there have been numerous cases in which heavily (and perhaps needlessly) sedated seniors died as a direct result of their over-medication.
Case in point: Robert Harris, a lively senior suffering from mild dementia, was killed by a massive infection that resulted from an incorrectly inserted catheter that punctured his urethra. The nursing home he was living in had placed him on two heavy antipsychotics, Risperdal and Haldol, that had made him an “involuntary catatonic prisoner,” lose 10 percent of his body weight in one month, and develop incontinence, a condition that forced use of the catheter.
Sadly, Robert Harris’ story is not uncommon. Becky Briesacher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School revealed that nearly 30 percent of the nation’s 1.4 million nursing home residents received the drugs in 2001, up almost 10 percent from 1999. Like Robert Harris, most do not have a diagnosis of psychosis but are prescribed the drugs off-label, for management of dementia.
In February 2007, FDA researcher David Graham estimated that as many as 15,000 elderly people die every year in nursing homes from the off label use of antipsychotic medications.
The unnecessary use of chemical restraints can be considered nursing home abuse. If you suspect that a friend or family member may have been harmed as a direct or indirect result of chemical restraints, contact an attorney specializing in nursing home abuse immediately. Nursing home abuse attorneys have been at the forefront of the fight to protect the victims of nursing home abuse and prevent negligent nursing homes from harming other seniors.
Read more about the Robert Harris nursing home abuse case .
Tags: elder abuse , elder abuse lawyer , nursing home abuse , nursing home abuse attorney , nursing home abuse dangerous drugs , nursing home abuse lawyer
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