Nursing Home Abuse: Overmedicating Patients
Nursing home abuse is a problem that is more widespread than many realize.
Our nursing home abuse lawyers have written several blog posts on nursing home abuse to share within our law office’s blog, educating readers on the prevalence of this type of abuse.
The August edition of the JereBeasley Report highlighted the issue of nursing home abuse in their article, Nursing Homes Are Said to Overmedicate Patients. Since this is an issue that our law office wishes to spread awareness of, we are sharing this article with our readers.
Overmedicating Nursing Home Patients
The JereBeasley Reports states that nursing homes are understaffed and those who are on staff are inadequately trained which can result in issues within the facilities. There is an issue that exists in which elderly patients are being given medications to control their behavior, including some that are very strong and can be dangerous. Instead of dedicating the appropriate resources to patients and residents, facilities are turning towards medications when they could instead spend the appropriate time with the residents to discover what the cause of certain behaviors may be.
The daughter of a patient in California recently learned first-hand what the nursing homes are doing when it comes to medications.
Kathi Levine discovered that her 79-year-old mother received poor car throughout an 18 day stay at a nursing home. The patient went into the nursing home for phsycial therapy, and at the time could still hold conversations, dress and feed herself. When her daughter picked her up, she could not speak, was withdrawn and slumped in her wheelchair. The patient then died within weeks of leaving the nursing facility.
After this tragic end to a stay at a nursing home, the daughter, Kathi Levine learned that her mother was given a laundry list of medications while at the facility, including psychotics.
In May, lawyers working on Levine’s behalf, along with lawyers from the AARP Foundation agreed on a class-action settlement against the facility that administered Levine’s mother, stating “using dangerous drugs without the consent of residents or family members.”
Nursing Home Abuse
According to the JereBeasley Report, one in five patients is administered antipsychotic drugs that are not necessary and can be dangerous to the health of elderly patients. The drugs administered are even known to be dangerous to the elderly population, increasing the risk of death.
There have been cases in the past in which providers paid the U.S. government due to allegations of participating in kickback schemes.
If you have suspected that your loved one has received improper care at a nursing home or assisted living facility, you should contact a lawyer at our office. We have helped families to seek justice after their loved ones were treated with negligence in a nursing home. Call the nursing home lawyers at the Charles E. Boyk Law Office at 800.637.8170.
