Using Deadly Drugs to Make Seniors Easy to Care For

Found on the internet

 

There are places where people are drugged out of their minds with antipsychotics, places where they’re unable to talk or even think — essentially put into “chemical restraints” so that they’re easier to handle.

You might think that I’m talking about psych wards or detention centers in Third-World countries, but I’m not. These horrific “treatments” are being given to thousands of seniors all over the U.S. every single day.

Six years ago, a federal program went into effect that was supposed to stop this form of abuse — giving risky heavy-duty meds to nursing home patients. But guess what? Very little has changed.

A new study has confirmed that not only are these facilities still drugging patients into submission… but the feds are acting as if they’ve also been sedated when it comes to enforcing laws to protect vulnerable seniors.

We’re up against a system of negligence and greed that appears to have no boundaries. Experts say that along with employees keeping patients drugged up (which makes it easier to keep these facilities short-staffed), Big Pharma has played a part by aggressively marketing dangerous antipsychotic meds to nursing homes.

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Under the influence
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Walter, an 81-year-old resident of a nursing facility in Texas, can clearly tell you what’s being done to him — once the drugs wear off, that is.

While he’s under the influence of these meds, however, he says that he can’t think straight or even talk.

But Walter’s case isn’t particularly unusual. A new study done by the group Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that during any week in the U.S., around 180,000 people in nursing facilities are given antipsychotic drugs to keep them sedated.

And that’s without permission from the patient or a family member.

Now, you might think that consent is required before risky meds such as Risperdal, Seroquel, or Abilify (a dangerous antipsychotic that’s unbelievably advertised on television using cartoons) are dispensed. And you’d be right.

Laws requiring that, however, don’t appear to be doing much at all to stop the problem. In fact, a recent study done by NPR found that when nursing homes flagrantly ignore such rules and regulations, government officials rarely fine them.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency responsible for enforcing these regulations, can levy penalties ranging from a “plan of correction” to monetary fines and even booting nursing homes out of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. But as that NPR study found, a mere 2 percent of nursing homes that continue to overmedicate residents are even at risk of being fined.

It sure seems like the owners of these facilities are being treated with a whole lot more respect than they show the residents!

And that’s especially tragic because those kinds of meds can be deadly for anyone with dementia or Alzheimer’s. Abilify, for example, has a big black-box warning saying that older patients with dementia are at “an increased risk of death” from using it.

This form of drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions — and regulators sure aren’t stepping in to stop it!

But don’t think that only nursing home residents are at risk. This problem has gone way beyond that and into places you might never suspect, such as residential and rehab facilities.

For example, the HRW report cites the story of Ruth, a 62-year-old patient who was sent for rehab after suffering a minor stroke. Soon afterward — and without her consent — she was being given an antipsychotic drug that was crushed and hidden in her apple sauce.

“It knocks you out…I sleep all the time,” she said, adding that she fears it’s going to kill her. (After being interviewed for that report, Ruth was released and sent home the next day.)

So, what can you do? Certainly, you can’t be with a loved one in a nursing home every minute to monitor their care.

End

 

Just another case of the government selling seniors out.

The government would prefer seniors to go off and die.

The solution.

Family members have to watch out for older family seniors.

Citizens need to be active in government.

But citizens are too stupid and/or selfish to become involved in government.

Do not get old as no one will care about you.

 

 

The facts no one wants to read.

If the facts make you mad, it could be the truth hurts.