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Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

nytimes.com

1–10 of 339 posts

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#2
Antipsychotics are not something to be handed out like candy. They have serious, sometimes permanent and sometimes fatal, side effects in anyone of any age. The article notes how that class of medication increases mortality in elderly people in particular.

The fact that some people were prescribed haloperidol as the first line of treatment instead of a newer, safer antipsychotics also blows my mind.

I'm terrified of growing old in this country.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#3
I work in developmental disabilities, the situation there is much the same. A lot of the time their lives just suck and the consequences of that is "solved" by giving them behavior controling medication because giving them good fulfilling lives is hard and expensive. I don't see any reason it would be different for nursing homes.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#4

Antipsychotics are not something to be handed out like candy. They have serious, sometimes permanent and sometimes fatal, side effects in anyone of any age. The article notes how that class of medication increases mortality in elderly people in particular. The fact that some people were prescribed haloperidol as the first line of treatment instead of a newer, safer antipsychotics also blows my mind. I'm terrified of…

Personally, I'm excited to help contribute to the quarterly profits of the shareholders.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#5

Antipsychotics are not something to be handed out like candy. They have serious, sometimes permanent and sometimes fatal, side effects in anyone of any age. The article notes how that class of medication increases mortality in elderly people in particular. The fact that some people were prescribed haloperidol as the first line of treatment instead of a newer, safer antipsychotics also blows my mind. I'm terrified of…

My grandparents were in a care facility for several years. By the end, they were each on so many different medicines that one of my other relatives had to keep records on everything to make sure dosages were right, they were getting the correct medicines for the time of day, day of the week, etc.

I feel like this industry for the care of elderly in this country just bears 0 responsibility.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#7
Antipsychotics have horrific side effects but are useful in institutional settings to make residents/patients/inmates easier to manage - psychiatry is the tool used to legitimize drugging people without need for their consent in such settings, for the benefit of others and the institution. It makes me despondent to read an article like this as I believe there are too many perverse incentives and cultural taboos for this situation to change in any meaningful way.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#8

Lol but guys medical fraud is suuuppperr rare... As I like to say: In Pharma we trust!

Nursing homes are part of the medical system, but they tend to be pretty disjoint in terms of the medical professionals who work at them. They're also regulated differently.

Evidence of a particular kind of medical malpractice in the nursing industry isn't positive or negative evidence of any malpractice (much less fraud) anywhere else.

Re: Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes

#10

I work in developmental disabilities, the situation there is much the same. A lot of the time their lives just suck and the consequences of that is "solved" by giving them behavior controling medication because giving them good fulfilling lives is hard and expensive. I don't see any reason it would be different for nursing homes.

You could say the same about my use of an antidepressant.
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