Psychoactive Medications Can Kill When Used for Elderly

Jack Halpern's blog "My Elder Advocate" is a valuable resource. This post grabbed me by the throat and I had to share it. It's good to see that this type of abuse is being taken seriously.

Assault With A Deadly Weapon

"On February 18, 2009, Attorney General Jerry Brown announced the arrest of a nurse, physician and a pharmacist of a skilled nursing facility operated by the Kern Valley Healthcare District in Lake Isabella, Kern County. All were charged with elder abuse for forcibly administering psychoactive medications for their own convenience and for causing the deaths of three residents."

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Comments

[Carol Bradley Bursack]

You are right that the title is misleading. Although I said "can" in the headline, I should have said something about misuse.

Good point.
Carol

[Carol Bradley Bursack]

I think Halpern makes it plain in the first paragraph "administeringpsychoactive medications for their own convenience and for causing the deaths of three residents" that these people were misusing a drug. There is denfinitely a place for properly used psychoactive drugs.

Thanks for bringing that up.
Carol

[Colette]

Although Carol meant her post as a means of pointing out an abuse, there are people who would read the titleof the comment "Psychoactive Medications Can Kill When Used for Elderly" and immediately go to their doctor about changing their loved one's meds.

[Colette]

I wish people would not take a phrase out of context.

Let's put the original comment in perspective. Patients were given HIGH DOSES of psychotrophic meds by their nurses as a means of eliminating (killing)the patient.

This is a quote from the above mentioned article: ""These people maliciously violated the trust of their patients, by HOLDING THEM DOWN and FORCIBLY ADMINISTERED PSYCHOTROPHIC MEDICATIONS if they dared to question their care," Attorney General Brown said. "This is appalling behavior, which amounts to assault
with a deadly weapon."

To me this is not talking about patients who are on a low dosage of antipsychotic drugs for their health.

Having any medication administered in a high enough dose can kill.