[clash]

On May 27, 2008, my 88 year old Mother was admitted to an inpatient Geri-psych unit within a large medical center. For 2-3 weeks prior to her admission, she began having some episodes of confusion, irritabililty, and had a non-injury fall in her home. Most of the time she functioned as usual. She lived independently in a retirement center community and required little assistance. (Paid her own bills, shopped, cared for her apartment, etc.) On a holiday, her primary care MD sent her to an emergency room to be “checked out”. The ER MD failed to diagnose and treat her urinary tract infection delerium … and, failing to test a mental status or ask her about her symptoms, he wrote what others had told him, added that she lived in a nursing home and had hit staff, and said she was psychotic and sent her to psych. On the psych unit, all of her psych tests were normal, but she was still given Seroquel for two days, Zyprexa for six days, Prolixin and Mellaril for nine days… She was ordered 12 + meds for chronic medical conditions, chemically restrained with IM Ativan, oral Klonopin, Prolixin injections and a Prolixin D injection. Her “Psychiatrist” said she had dementia, possible bi-polar, obsessive compulsive disorder… and he said she was hurting others and a danger to herself and that she had previous admissions to Veterans hospitals for psychosis – which was absolutely untrue. Her only previous admission was a short inpatient stay for depression, after her husband had died ten years earlier. Even though my sister(POA) and I visited often, we were not informed that she was being given antipsychotics or chemical restraints. We were told that her mental condition was worsening and she was hard to control; and, we were told that our visits were unsetting to her. We did ask questions; told the staff and psychiatrist that she had didn’t tolerate sedative drugs; asked them to review her at home medicines and expressed our concern that she was being over prescribed. They agreed to do as we asked – and he ordered antipsychotics and benzodiazipines. We were repeatedly lied to. I’m so sorry we didn’t figure things out sooner. She was in that “Snake Pit” for almost three weeks… Reading her records, I can see that her behavior and mental status changed within two hours after the first dose of Seroquel, worsened with the Ativan…and further declined with Zyprexa, Prolixin and Mellaril. She could no longer walk or even stand upright, she became incontinent, unable to use her hands because the tremors were so severe, developed swallowing and speaking problems, had little movement in her head and could barely even move her body. She became dehydrated and malnourished… As soon as she was transferred to another hospital, all antipsychotics and benzodiazipines were discontinued and the urinary traction was treated, she became alert and oriented. She worked in rehab for five weeks, but her body just couldn’t function. A neurologist described her as having cogwheeling, and at first thought she had a history of Parkinsons – but she didn’t. She died three weeks later. We know that it was because of the many medical mistakes/negligence and horrific treatment that she received – and we believe the facility likely committed fraud just to fill a bed and bill Medicare – but her response to the antipsychotcs sounds like many others I have read about in my research. She was 88 years old, diagnosed with dementia and given the drugs that are labeled and carry warnings that they can cause death in the advanced elderly. Still they were available, ordered, and given. Maybe they are helpful to others, but the drug companies must do more to control their use – something has to change.

[Travelinglady]

I agree. These drugs are bad enough given to younger people. My mother-in-law's mother was put in a psych unit, and they finally concluded after she was there for awhile that is was her meds that were making her depressed!

Doctors need more training in how to medicate (or maybe not medicate) the elderly. Older people's bodies handle meds differently for one thing. Shame on those doctors!

[clash]

Originally Posted by PAYNE1

I agree. These drugs are bad enough given to younger people. My mother-in-law's mother was put in a psych unit, and they finally concluded after she was there for awhile that is was her meds that were making her depressed!

Doctors need more training in how to medicate (or maybe not medicate) the elderly. Older people's bodies handle meds differently for one thing. Shame on those doctors!

wow I'm sorry to hear that about your mother in law. I hope she's doing better now though