Elder Law

Three Nursing Home Patients are Killed by Chemical Restraints

By Levin & Perconti

An attorney general is saying that a nursing home director has drugged his patients in order to control them. Residents at the nursing home began complaining when the director chemically restrained them with powerful anti-psychotic drugs. Prosecutors say that her methods were so severe that three residents died. One 97-year-old suddenly lost energy. She wouldn?t awake and seemed completely lethargic. Prosecutors now say that her mother had been given a powerful anti-seizure drug that killed her. The administrator ordered one patient drugged just for glaring at her, and another for throwing a carton of milk. Some residents were left drooling, dehydrated and dangerously thin. It is even more shocking that this specific administrator had been fired for over-drugging once before at a nearby nursing home. The three defendants who used chemical restraints pled not guilty to nursing home abuse. Unfortunately, over-drugging has become common nationwide. A study shows that anti-psychotics are given tone in every four patients. They seem to be replacing physical restraints, which are now illegal in most states. A FDA official estimates that unnecessary anti-psychotics kill 15,000 nursing home patients each year. To learn more about chemical restraints, please check out the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on January 06, 2010 (boomark / email).