Federal Government Targets Nursing Homes for Alleged Inappropriate Antipsychotic Drugs Use:

CMS has announced it will conduct investigations into certain nursing homes in an effort to uncover illegitimate schizophrenia diagnoses and any accompanying inappropriate antipsychotic drug use that amounts to nursing home malpractice.

The federal government will be conducting audits of nursing homes and requesting documentation demonstrating authentic schizophrenia diagnoses, says a recent Forbes article. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a press release in mid-January announcing the intention to investigate nursing homes across the country to curb the abuse of antipsychotic drugs, which potentially exposes residents to dangerous side effects and is therefore consistent with nursing home malpractice.

The act comes as another step in the federal government’s initiative against the increased tendency of nursing homes to use antipsychotic drugs as a means of calming, and thereby more easily controlling, dementia patients. A New York Times investigation into inappropriate antipsychotic use in nursing homes revealed that about 21 percent of nursing homes use the drugs, equaling about 225,000 elderly residents presently receiving them; moreover, the Times reported that, although only  one in 150 people in the general population are diagnosed with schizophrenia, one in nine elderly nursing home residents receive the diagnosis, even though schizophrenia is rarely diagnosed after age 40.

Providing the wrong medication to elderly nursing home residents, which qualifies as nursing home malpractice, can result in serious, and even life-threatening, conditions. For example, the sedative properties of antipsychotic drugs can lead to increased nursing home falls and bedsores, which can result from residents remaining unmoving in beds or chairs for prolonged periods. Beyond this, anti-psychotics have been linked to heart problems in people who suffer with dementia; furthermore, according to clinical trials, the risk of wrongful death nearly doubles for dementia patients using antipsychotics, necessitating the involvement of a wrongful death attorney.

According to Forbes, CMS declared that any audit that reveals a false diagnosis of a resident having schizophrenia will result in the loss of a star from the nursing home’s rating on the agency’s Five-Star Quality Rating System for nursing homes.

Protecting Your Loved One’s Dignity, Quality of Life, and Safety

As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy is committed to fighting to uphold the health and safety of nursing home residents  in Philadelphia/PA and New Jersey. You should feel confident that your loved one living in a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home is secure from the possibility of being subjected to nursing home malpractice or the possibility of wrongful death. With his wide-ranging experience as a wrongful death attorney taking on negligent nursing homes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Brian Murphy has had repeat success resolving his clients’ nursing home malpractice cases. If you need to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

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Uncover What Your Nursing Home Would Rather Keep Secret: Whether they’re ongoing issues or past deficiencies, nursing homes would rather keep problems like nursing home malpractice or abuse and neglect under wraps. But nothing should be kept secret from residents and their loved ones.

A recent U.S. News and Health Report article highlights common problem areas and care concerns about which American nursing homes would prefer not to be transparent. When choosing a nursing home, it’s important that potential residents and/or their family members know what to look for in uncovering deficiencies within a prospective facility. Common issues covered in the article include the following:

• Staffing Issues-Staffing shortages, high staff turnover, poor ratio of staff to residents, and too few registered nurses (RNs) are all types of nursing home staffing issues. Each of these staffing issues bring their own challenges, but every one of them has a negative impact on the care and health of nursing home residents—leading to an uptick in pressure ulcers, hospitalizations, and urinary tract infections—and amount to nursing home malpractice.
• Insufficient Infection Control-Nursing homes that fail to defend against nursing home infections can subject frail residents to the spread of a range of illnesses, including those caused by certain drug-resistant bacteria , which is the kind of neglect that resembles nursing home malpractice. The spread of COVID in nursing homes during the pandemic—often due to the lack of proper infection control supplies—resulted in widespread nursing home deaths, which in some cases required the involvement of a wrongful death attorney.
• Recurrent Nursing Home Complaints-According to the article, some of the most frequent repeat complaints within single nursing homes involve medication errors, improper evictions, and various instances of nursing home neglect, all of which can indicate a home has committed nursing home malpractice.
• Antipsychotic Drug Use–Some nursing homes improperly treat hard-to-manage dementia or Alzheimer’s patients with antipsychotic drugs indicated for residents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. This extreme sort of medication error equals nursing home malpractice, and in the event these drugs lead to the death of a resident, a wrongful death attorney needs to be consulted.
• Ambiguous Nursing Home Ownership–Complicated nursing home ownership obscures who is ultimately responsible for promoting quality care and preventing nursing home malpractice.

Any of the above concerns may apply to the nursing home you’re considering for yourself or your loved one. Whether they are present issues or deficiencies from the past, the homes will not volunteer their struggles to prospective residents. It is therefore very important to do some research prior to choosing a nursing home, allowing you to uncover what your nursing home would rather keep secret. You can view a home’s star rating or contact your state department of health to gain more information about a prospective home. It is also good to visit any home you’re considering. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. And if you have any concerns nursing home abuse and neglect, don’t wait to contact a nursing home malpractice attorney.

Protecting Your Loved One from Gross Negligence, Elder Abuse, and Wrongful Death

As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy is committed to fighting for the health and safety of Philadelphia/PA an NJ nursing home residents. Your loved one living in a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home, should feel safe and sufficiently cared for and not need to worry about being subjected to nursing home abuse/neglect.  Brian Murphy’s extensive experience working as a wrongful death attorney and fighting negligent nursing homes demonstrates his commitment to holding nursing homes responsible for nursing home malpractice. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

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White House against Antipsychotic Drug Use in Nursing Home Dementia Patients:

The use of antipsychotic drugs in elderly patients not diagnosed with schizophrenia falls into the category of nursing home medication errors, a common but lesser known aspect of nursing home neglect, and can lead to such serious issues as nursing home falls and nursing home infections such as bed sores.

Federal efforts toward thwarting inappropriate medical treatments for nursing home dementia patients will see a boost, according to a recent White House fact sheet. The fact sheet, issued on February 28, outlines a series of proposals for change in the nursing home industry, with the aim of improving safety, accountability, oversight, and transparency across the industry.

Coming as part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiative to ensure nursing home residents receive the sort of safe, high-quality, and dignity-preserving care that taxpayer money aims to fund, the measure of further reducing antipsychotic drug use in nursing homes comes as a response to the tendency of some nursing homes to use antipsychotic drugs to make dementia patients calmer and easier to control. Providing the wrong medication to elderly nursing home residents—particularly those with dementia—can lead to grave and frequently life-threatening conditions. This kind of negligence falls into the category of nursing home medication errors.

A recent New York Times investigation revealed the frequency with which false diagnoses of schizophrenia has led to inappropriate use of antipsychotics for elderly patients. While just one in 150 people in the general population are diagnosed with schizophrenia, one in nine elderly nursing home residents receive the diagnosis, even though schizophrenia is typically diagnosed before age 40. The Times went on to report that, although Medicare data indicates that less than 15 percent of nursing home residents use antipsychotics, the true percentage as revealed by the Times investigation is closer to 21 percent. This number translates to about 225,000 elderly residents currently on antipsychotics.

White House against antipsychotic drug use in nursing home dementia patients due to the fact that antipsychotic drugs are not only inappropriate, but also dangerous, for non-schizophrenic elderly people with dementia, and have been linked with the following problems:

• Nursing Home Falls–The drowsiness produced by antipsychotic drugs often results in increased rates of nursing home falls and consequential injuries.
• Bedsores and Other Infections-The sedation effects of antipsychotics can leave dementia patients practically immobilized. Remaining in one position for prolonged periods in beds or wheelchairs is a primary cause of bedsores which, if not tended to quickly, can escalate into serious infections.
• Increased Heart Problems–Antipsychotics have been linked to heart problems in people with dementia.
• Wrongful Death–Clinical trials have revealed that, in elderly dementia patients using antipsychotics, the risk of death nearly doubled for older dementia patients using these medications.

According to the White House fact sheet, noting the continued inappropriate nursing home diagnoses and subsequent dispensing of unnecessary medications, CMS intends to launch new efforts to complement its current program, the CMS National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes, with the aim of decreasing the unsuitable use of antipsychotic medications and upholding person-centered care for people with dementia.

Securing Your Loved One’s Safety

Determining the quality and safety of the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives is essential. Meeting health and safety standards and to ensuring the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents is a requirement to which Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes must adhere. Should you have concerns about the quality of care in a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home, or if you suspect neglect, abuse, or fraud has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

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Inappropriate Antipsychotic Patient Drugging in Nursing Homes Concealed: 

The nursing home industry and the government are masking the frequency with which antipsychotic drugs are used on elderly residents with dementia, a New York Times investigation has found. While antipsychotics are neither indicated nor safe for the treatment of dementia, false diagnoses of schizophrenia and other conditions are resulting in high rates of antipsychotic drug use in patients—rates that go unreported.

The use of drugs by facilities to subdue challenging dementia patients is not a new problem. In 2012 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) required that any dispensing of antipsychotics be reported, with the data to be made available on Nursing Home Compare—reports that can affect a home’s star rating, which in turn could have financial consequences. But the requirement came with a loophole: any antipsychotics dispensed following a diagnosis of schizophrenia did not need to be disclosed. In the ensuing nine years since the CMS requirement, schizophrenia diagnoses increased 70 percent.

One in nine nursing home residents is diagnosed with schizophrenia; by contrast the disorder is found in only one in 150 people in the general population. Schizophrenia is almost always diagnosed prior to age 40. It is not a condition brought on by age.

While Medicare’s data shows under 15 percent of nursing home residents using antipsychotics, the Times investigation revealed that the true percentage is about 21 percent, which amounts to 225,000 elderly residents currently on antipsychotics.

Inappropriate Antipsychotic Patient Drugging in Nursing Homes is dangerous for elderly people with dementia—over a dozen clinical trials concluded that the risk of death nearly doubled for older dementia patients using these medications. Antipsychotics like Seroquel, Zyprexa, and Abilify have been discovered to cause the following problems when used by elderly dementia patients:

• Increased Heart Problems-Antipsychotics have been linked to heart problems in people with dementia. Serious or life-threatening conditions that happen as a result of providing inappropriate medication is consistent with nursing home negligence.
• Nursing Home Falls – As antipsychotics cause drowsiness, the use of these drugs often results in higher rates of falls.
• Bedsores and Other Infections-The effects of antipsychotics leave many residents too sedated to move. Lying for prolonged periods in beds or wheelchairs often result in bed sores which, if left unattended, can develop into serious infections.

Despite the dangers, inappropriate antipsychotic drug use in elderly residents with dementia persists in nursing homes. According to the Times article, facilities that are poorly staffed are more likely to provide their residents with antipsychotic medications. These understaffed homes are also more likely to underreport the number of residents taking antipsychotics. It can be concluded that homes with staffing issues use the drugs to control their dementia patients because of the lack of nursing assistants and other qualified staff to take on the challenging tasks of dementia care.

Since the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the country’s nursing homes and left the industry reeling, nursing home employment has plummeted by over 200,000 workers. The use of antipsychotics continues to rise.

Ensuring the Safety of Your Loved One

Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are at all times required to secure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents by meeting certain health and safety requirements and providing adequate care. To meet these standards, the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives must be equipped to avoid the kind of substandard care that amounts to nursing home neglect or abuse. This includes ensuring adequate, quality staffing. Should you have concerns about a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home during COVID-19, or if you suspect neglect, abuse, or fraud has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

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