Illinois Nursing Home Patients Improperly Drugged, Newspaper Investigation Finds

Thousands of residents in nursing homes throughout Illinois have been forced to take powerful psychotropic drugs and suffered fatal falls, tremors, and other serious injuries, including to an investigative report from the Chicago Tribune.

Even though the controversy was uncovered in Illinois by the Tribune, there is no doubt that this kind of physical and emotional abuse is rampant in hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted-living facilities all over the United States. Thousands more frail and vulnerable senior citizens likely are subjected to the abuse of drugs intended to sedate them when they do not have valid medical reasons for taking the medications.

One Dozen Deaths Linked to Misuse of Drugs

The Tribune investigation combed through more than 40,000 state and federal inspection records since 2001 and uncovered 1,200 violations for the type of drug-related medical abuse. Nearly 3,000 patients were included in the reports, some of which involved abuse of more than one patient, but officials said the number is likely much higher due to the sporadic nature of official inspections.

There were 12 patients whose deaths were linked to the misuse of psychotropics, the newspaper said.

In some cases identified by the Tribune, patients in their 70s and older suffered fatal falls and other serious injuries after being given large doses of antipsychotic drugs for refusing to follow staff orders, refusing to wear a bra, or being what hospital staffers described as “easily annoyed.”

‘Chemical Restraint’ Allegedly Misused

The unnecessary use of drugs for “chemical restraint” of elderly nursing home patients also included administering drugs at doses that exceed safety standards, according to the Tribune investigation.

Certainly, many nursing home patients suffer from schizophrenia and other forms of severe mental illnesses that require use of antipsychotic drugs. However, the investigation focused on the use of the drugs on patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other conditions for which use of the drugs is not proper, the paper said.

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