Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

My personal experience as a Missouri Nursing Home Lawyer is that far too many nursing home residents are overmedicated by those responsible for providing quality care. In my job I often meet with residents and their families in nursing homes. On some of those occasions, the residents simply could not wake up. Their eyes fluttered as though they were struggling to wake up and participate in the conversation happening around them. Sadly, the government has determined that my experience is not unique.

The U.S. Department of Health and Senior Services recently prepared a report entitled Medicare Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Claims For Elderly Nursing Home Residents that found that too many nursing home institutions failed to comply with regulations designed to prevent overmedication. It is well known that prescribing antipsychotic medication to elderly residents with dementia is potentially lethal, yet 88% of these individuals receive such prescriptions.

Family members must make certain that they know what medications their loved one is receiving. They must educate themselves on the medications and the proper dosages. They must regularly ask questions of the caregivers and insist upon answers. Family members must know what the possible side effects are and should closely monitor their loved one for any signs of side effects.

Why would a nursing home overmedicate a resident? First, to be fair to the nursing home industry, many times the overmedication is completely unintentional. Elderly residents are more much more susceptible to overmedication than are younger people. The second reason is an indictment of the nursing home industry. Overmedicated residents do complain and are, therefore, easier to care for with a reduced staff. Residents who ask to be taken to the restroom, or who need more water or need help walking down the hallway often require assistance from staff members. When a nursing home operates on reduced staff (as most nursing homes do) drugged residents are easier to manage than those who are alert and active.

If you are concerned about the care your loved one is receiving in a nursing home, call our St. Louis personal injury lawyer David Terry for a free consultation at 1-888-317-2525.

It's been almost five years since Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Huntington Place Senior Community through massive flooding. What remained inside was still dangerous and was only discovered through chance.

A man named Nicholas, who requested that his last name remain anonymous, had a dog that ran off. During the search for the dog, Nicholas and his friend had to enter the abandoned Huntington Place Senior Community to catch her and were quite surprised to find multiple filing cabinets filled with medical records of the facility residents. The records were completely legible and contained social security numbers, birthdates, addresses, medical information, and resident names. This was identity theft waiting to happen. But the records weren't the only find that day - Nicholas and his friend also found pills thrown all over the floor of the facility, most of them unopened and in their original packaging. One of the medications found was Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Syringes and other medical supplies were also found abandoned and unsecured.

According to St. Bernard Parish President, Craig Taffaro, the building was originally slated to be demolished in June 2009 but a property release error held up the demolition. The building will be demolished within thirty days.