ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Overmedication A Real Danger For All Seniors
Nursing Home Residents and Anti-Psychotic Drugs
Overmedication of nursing home residents has become a terrible problem in this country. Many of the drugs are unnecessary. One recent study concluded that nursing homes administer unnecessary antipsychotic drugs to 179,000 patients every week. Overmedication or the administration of unnecessary anti-psychotic drugs is often intentional with the purpose of making a patient easier to control. There are laws against this kind of intentional overmedication, referred to legally as “chemical restraint.” However, senior advocates say these laws are not enforced and often the overmedication is never detected or reported. The results can be fatal; some reports claim as many as 15,000 nursing home residents die each year due to un-prescribed antipsychotics.
The Marin, San Francisco and California nursing home abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. understand what can go horribly wrong when a nursing home resident is overmedicated or otherwise abandoned, neglected or abused. We represent elderly victims of such abuse and our attorneys know how to investigate these cases and what remedies are available to the victims. If you or someone you know is suffering from nursing home abuse here in Marin, San Francisco or elsewhere in California, call the nursing home abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm today at 415-441-8669, and we can help.
Nursing home residents are particularly vulnerable to anti-psychotic drugs, which the FDA warns lead to increased risk of death for dementia patients. At a minimum, the drugs produce noticeable behavioral changes and, in cases such as the recently reported one, can result in death. If you have a loved one in a nursing home and notice abnormal changes in behavior, the reason could be overmedication. An overmedicated patient may become reclusive, confused or begin sleeping for long periods of time; they may also develop unexplained medical conditions. Overmedication and administration of inappropriate drugs are an illegal form of physical elder abuse. Calif. Welf. & Inst. Code § 15610.63(f). You can stand up for your loved one in court and get them the justice they deserve. If you suspect this type of abuse, call us today at (415)441-8669.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one is or has been the victim of nursing home abuse in Marin or elsewhere in California, contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other nursing home abuse attorneys at the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at info@evanslaw.com. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
