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« Cab Drollery | Main | The Law... »
December 21, 2007 |Permalink |Comments (1)
Pills that Kill
Lucette Lagnado over at the WSJ
She takes a look at the damage being done by the overuse of prescription medications in nursing homes all over America.
It is sad.
And true.
The widespread use of antipsychotics among the elderly has begun to draw criticism from regulators, researchers, lawmakers and some in the nursing-home industry. Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, this month asked several drug manufacturers for records on how they may have marketed these drugs for use in geriatric patients. He also has asked the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate use of the drugs in nursing homes.
The take home message is that the "system" is biased toward using powerful drugs in place of recommended levels of staffing and ongoing staff training and development.
Comments ( 1)
It's not only sad, it's tragic. The root reason for the overuse of psychotropics is the underfunding of Medicaid reimbursement, which is a function of federal budget priorities. States are hard strapped to supplement the federal funds, and so rather than pay the salaries for humane staffing levels, nursing homes administer various cocktails of drugs to stabilize their residents.
Watchdog groups also contribute to the problem by choosing criticism and law suits over working with nursing home administrators, public agencies for aging, ombudspersons, etc. in a creative collaboration. Nursing homes can sell out to developers who will build condos and realize substantial profits. Why run a loosing business?
The root solution is to work to integragte our age segregated society, stimulate values that include care (as in caring) for the elderly and funding that will support those who weren't able, in the productive phases of their lives, to set aside enough for their later years. (Not to mention that the later years are getting more costly as we live longer.)
Boomers will need to tend to this as they begin to look ahead. (Not to mention address the whole Social Security issue.)