By John R Kormanik on Posted in Nursing Home Abuse,Nursing Home Resident SafetyLast month, I wrote about an National Public Radio series concerning overmedicating nursing home residents. This second entry from the NPR series is based on reporting concerning training opportunities the State of Texas is offering to decrease that state’s use of antipsychotic medications in nursing homes. According to NPR, antipsychotic drugs “can be deadly” for older… Continue Reading
By John R Kormanik on Posted in Abuse/Neglect,Family Resources,Nursing Home Abuse,Nursing Home Resident SafetyRecently, National Public Radio (NPR) has done a series of stories on the problem of overmedication of nursing home residents and what some facilities are doing right in this area. I thought I’d take the opportunity to share with you these stories, give you the links to the themand the audio of the original stories… Continue Reading
By John R Kormanik on Posted in Abuse/Neglect,Nursing Home Abuse,Resident and Family ResourcesIn a recent San Diego Union Tribune article, Deborah Schoch noted California has just raised the fine the state can impose for violations which cause the death of an assisted living facility resident 100-fold. Sounds GREAT…doesn’t it? Well, dig a little deeper and you’ll find although it is a remarkable increase…the reason is that the fines… Continue Reading
By John R Kormanik on Posted in Nursing Home Abuse,Nursing Home Resident Safety,Resident and Family ResourcesIn a recent article, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), described in detail a serious problem in nursing home facilities: pharmaceutical companies "pushing" antipsychotic medications to be used on elderly nursing home residents with dementia. Often times, these types of medications are used as "chemical restraints" on nursing home residents. AARP’s article is, quite… Continue Reading
By John R Kormanik on Posted in Nursing Home AbuseElopement, it is not just for teenagers. According to Merriam-Webster Online, in addition to running away to get married, the word "elopement" means: "to slip away." When nursing home or assisted living facility residents "slip away" it often has serious consequences. There are both "simple" and highly technical methods which a facility can employ to… Continue Reading
By John R Kormanik on Posted in Nursing Home Abuse,Resident ResourcesAccording to a 2005 factsheet by the National Center on Elder Abuse, the incidence of abuse of the elderly is between 2% and 10% nationwide. Remarkably, the NCEA believes that, for every incident of elder abuse in America, five additional incidents are not reported. It seems like there is a story about a nursing home… Continue Reading