Elder Law

Administrator Charged in Nursing Home Drugging

By Levin & Perconti

An administrator has been charged in a case of nursing home negligence, where the residents were allegedly drugged against their will. The administrator was charged with eight felony counts of elder abuse for allowing staff to forcibly administer psychotropic medications to patients for their own convenience, rather than for their patients? therapeutic needs. The druggings allegedly led to the wrongful deaths of three nursing home residents. Three other people were charged in the nursing home abuse. Medical complications, including lethargy and the inability to eat or drink properly, resulted from the forced medications. Twenty-two patients were given high doses and one surviving patient was personally injured. The administers allegedly ordered staff to give high doses of the psychotropic medications to Alzheimer?s and other dementia patients to make them more tranquil and easier to control. She ordered the medications to be given to patients who argued with her, made noise or were otherwise disruptive. Medical restraints are a common form of elderly abuse. To read more about the medical restraints, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on September 09, 2009 (boomark / email).