"Massachusetts’ consistent ranking as one of the heaviest users of psychotropic drugs.... in nursing homes"
No wonder grandma is so out of it.
This state is a horror show, folks.
And they are taking it national.
And the leaders are so smug and self-righteous here, as if they are better than everybody when they are TOTAL FAILURES!
"Nursing home drug use puts many at risk; Antipsychotics given to some with dementia" by Kay Lazar, Globe Staff | March 8, 2010
Nearly 2,500 nursing home residents in Massachusetts were given powerful antipsychotic drugs last year that were not intended or recommended for their medical condition, a practice that is more common here than in most other states, according to a Globe analysis of federal data....
The use of such drugs is especially worrisome in nursing homes because a substantial number of residents suffer from dementia, a condition that puts them at greater risk of death when given antipsychotic medications.
Maybe that was the whole point, ever think of that?
The drugs, also known as “‘psychotropics,’’ were developed to treat people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, not dementia, which is the progressive loss of memory or other intellectual function than can result from aging or Alzheimer’s disease.
Aren't those the same drugs the mass shooters are always on?
Twice in the past five years, federal regulators have issued nationwide alerts about troubling and sometimes fatal side effects when antipsychotics are taken by people with dementia, including increased confusion, sedation, and weight gain.
Scott Plumb, senior vice president of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, the trade group representing the state’s 440 nursing homes, said Massachusetts’ consistent ranking as one of the heaviest users of psychotropic drugs indicates much more training is needed in nursing homes.
“We recognize the number is too high,’’ Plumb said, “and we are working to try to bring it down.’’
As the nation ages - up to 14 million baby boomers are expected to develop Alzheimer’s disease or a similar dementia - the drugging of such vulnerable patients takes on increasing urgency. While there has been much focus on the increasing use of antipsychotic drugs among children - highlighted by the recent overdose death of 4-year-old Rebecca Riley - much less attention has been paid to the similar problem among seniors.
Yeah, well, whose fault is that, Globe?
You are New England's largest newspaper, after all.
Related: The End of Riley
Of course, that got days and days of coverage.
If you didn't see the Globe this day, you missed this.
Again, whose agenda are they protecting, concealing, or advancing.
That is how you must read an AmeriKan jewspaper.
“Way too many patients in nursing homes are treated with antipsychotics purely to sedate them or to control behaviors that are difficult for the staff,’’ said Robert A. Stern, an Alzheimer’s specialist and brain researcher at Boston University School of Medicine.
Yeah, get the old bag to $hut up, will ya? Give her a pill.
“To the defense of nursing homes and nursing home staff,’’ Stern said, “they are indeed understaffed, they are indeed under-trained, and it takes an awful lot of well-trained people to manage the difficult behaviors that can be exhibited by people with dementia.’’
You know, it is amazing how we have plenty of resources for banks, wars, corporations, and cushy, taxpayer-funded lifestyles for politicians, but nothing for the taxpayers who pay for it all.
And the country has an unemployment crisis; why are they understaffed?
While there is no barometer for what is considered an appropriate amount of antipsychotic use in nursing homes - and there is no law governing the matter - specialists in caring for the elderly note that the use of antipsychotics is much lower in some homes than others, and in some states than others.
Pfft!
Un-frikking-real!
Yeah, they are wasting their time on the hill with bullying and texting laws.
PFFFFFFFTTT!!!
They also point to the federal government’s recent legal action against the largest provider of drugs to nursing homes in the United States. The company,
Oh, yeah, wait until halfway through the piece to mention the KICKBACK$, Globe!
Related: Doctor Chooses Money Over Medicine
MSM Monitor Going Through Menopause
Glaxo's Ghostwriters
Healthcare Coup of Congress
Oh, INDUSTRY is WRITING the BILLS DOWN THERE, too, huh?
See: The Perils of One-Party Politics: Massachusetts' Democracy
Yeah, you are going to love your new crap corporate health plan, AmeriKa.
The government said Omnicare persuaded physicians to prescribe the medication to dementia patients with behavioral problems. A government suit against J&J is pending.
Specialists say antipsychotics can improve the quality of life for some dementia patients who suffer from extreme agitation and sleeplessness, common symptoms of Alzheimer’s. But too often nursing homes don’t regularly reevaluate patients’ medications to determine whether the antipsychotics are, in fact, effective and whether the dose can be lowered or eliminated, said psychologist Paul Raia, vice president of clinical services for the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Alzheimer’s Association....
Yeah, DO NOT PUT YOUR OLD ONE in a HOME in Massachusetts, readers!
GO OUT of STATE if you MUST!
Alice Bonner, the state’s top nursing home regulator as director of the Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality, said “culture change,’’ including a growing consumer movement that focuses on more closely involving families and patients in care decisions, can lower the use of psychotropic drugs....
Why must the BURDEN BE on US!?
Don't doctors take an OATH to DO NO HARM (now $ign thi$, doc)?
For Sharlene Hemp, a North Andover resident who says her father died from side effects of psychotropic drugs just 34 days after entering a nursing home, the answer is legislation. Her father had Alzheimer’s, but she said the family was never told about the medications nor of the potential lethal side effects, until after his death in 2001.
Hemp persuaded her state senator, Steven A. Baddour, to file legislation that would require all Massachusetts nursing homes and their prescribing physicians to obtain written permission from a patient’s health care proxy, which is often a family member, and a court appointed guardian before using antipsychotic medications. A public hearing was held on the bill in January, and it remains in committee.
“When you put a loved one in a nursing home, you are putting your trust in the nursing home and the doctor,’’ Hemp said. “But you don’t know when they go in that they are given all these drugs, and especially dementia patients, because they can’t tell you what they are given.’’
Don't need to know.
That seems to be the attitude of officials in Massachusetts.
--more--"
So after the feds get involved THEN the state shows up?
Pffffft!
"State joins antipsychotic drug lawsuit; Kickbacks alleged in nursing home use" by Kay Lazar, Globe Staff | March 11, 2010
Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office joined a federal lawsuit yesterday that contends that Johnson & Johnson paid tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks to get its drugs, especially the powerful antipsychotic Risperdal, prescribed in nursing homes.
Related:
"A Suffolk poll two months ago showed Coakley, the state’s attorney general, holding a commanding 31-point lead.... She even took a six-day vacation from campaigning in December.... She is happy with the way her campaign has been run"
Also see: Selecting a Senator: What Happened to the Coakley Campaign?
Selecting a Senator: Beyond the Globe's Analysis
Coakley's Missing Case
And now she is TRAILING ALONG BEHIND the FEDS here, huh?
Well, when state government works for pharmaceuticals and not you, citizens.
What are these people being paid for, anyway?
See: Coakley's Challenge
Sigh. What a tool.
Of course, Marty is going to have a nice state pension and taxpayer-funded health care for life, so big loss.
The action was taken as Coakley’s office disclosed that it is also scrutinizing companies that market antipsychotics to Massachusetts nursing homes.
I love her. Always after the horse is out the barn.
These drugs are widely used in some homes for residents suffering from dementia, a condition that puts them at greater risk of death when given antipsychotics.
Antipsychotics were approved to treat people with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, but it is legal for physicians to prescribe them “off label’’ to treat people with dementia.
Yeah, the doctor$ can give them out even if they are not meant for that u$e.
I mean, you wouldn't mind drinking some liquid plumber or anything, right?
Must have been one hell of a psychedelic trip for the old folks.
Pharmaceutical companies are prohibited from marketing or promoting off-label uses of their products.
“The inappropriate off-label marketing of antipsychotic drugs to nursing homes is a significant health and safety issue for our seniors,’’ Coakley said in a statement released by her office. “We have taken strong action on this issue in the past and are continuing to monitor it very closely moving forward.’’
Where you been?
She's pathetic!
You know, it is sad to say, but it is better that Brown won. This lady would have been an embarrassment down there and in way over her head.
Coakley’s office declined further comment, citing the pending litigation.
The Globe reported Monday that 28 percent of Massachusetts nursing home residents were given antipsychotics last year.
Of that group, 22 percent, or 2,483, did not have a medical condition that calls for such treatment. That rate was 12th highest in the nation, according to federal data.
The lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson — filed in January by the US attorney in Boston, Carmen M. Ortiz — alleges that the drug company paid millions to
Yeah, but they only have YOUR WELL-BEING and YOUR HEALTH in mind, America.
That campaign nearly tripled sales of J&J products to Omnicare, from approximately $100 million to over $280 million, with annual purchases of Risperdal alone rising to over $100 million, the suit contends.
And the PROFITS?
Omnicare then filed for reimbursement for these purchases, seeking payment from Medicaid, the joint federal and state health program for the poor, which pays for nursing home care for many seniors.
Yup, and ONCE AGAIN TAXPAYERS are GETTING SCREWED as they DOPE UP OUR SENIORS!!!
The attorney general’s office is joining the suit against Johnson & Johnson to ensure that the state shares in any financial settlement for the Medicaid payments....
Yeah, $tate only care$ about GETTING MONEY into it$ coffer$!!!
So when does the HEALTH of OUR SENIORS start entering the equation, huh?
The federal lawsuit details an elaborate program by Johnson & Johnson and Omnicare to allegedly convince nursing home physicians to prescribe Risperdal. The suit contains internal company documents and e-mails, including one from 1999 in which Omnicare offered J & J’s sales team a list of nursing home physicians who had been resistant to prescribing the antipsychotic.
Yeah, this type of ELDER ABUSE has been going on for YEARS and YEARS!!
And the government that works for the corporations is just getting after them now.
“These names were provided to the sales force in an effort to increase the call frequency on these resistant prescribers and to eventually influence them to use more Risperdal in the elderly demented patient,’’ the e-mail said....
--more--"I would rather die in the gutter than enter a nursing home in Massachusetts.
Just SAY NO to DRUGS, seniors!
