In a recent Ventura County lawsuit filed by the Law Offices of Jody C. Moore, APC, Ms. Moore and her legal team take on the issue of wrongful drugging of our elders. The plaintiff is an 81 year old man with dementia who was a resident at Shoreline Care Center. During his stay he was treated with powerful psychiatric medications, including Haldol, to control episodes of aggressive behavior. Medications such as Haldol are intended to treat psychiatric conditions and mental illness, not episodic and combative behavior which often accompanies dementia. In fact, the FDA has issued a black box warning advising physicians that it is not for use with elderly patients suffering primarily from Dementia with psychosis. A "black box" warning states that when the medication is used to treat the elderly with dementia-related psychosis, those patients are at an increased risk of heart failure and sudden death.
Despite manufacturer warnings , this type of medication is given in elder care settings to control combative behavior. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of using this type of medication (known as anti-psychotic medication or psychotropic medication) is to induce the very behavior or symptom you were trying to control. Again, according to manufacturer warnings, adverse effects of Haldol include anxiety, restlessness and agitation.
In the recent civil action, the elder patient became even more irritable, combative and agitated after Haldol was administered. Facility staff felt he was a danger to himself or others and called the police who took the man into custody, where he was cleared medically and then taken to a psychiatric facility for evaluation and holding. The elder's authorized representative, his own daughter, was not told her father was taken away by the police, until she arrived at Shoreline Care Center the next day, to find her father was no longer there.
Once admitted to the psychiatric facility, the physicians weaned the patient off the improper medications and his behavior stabilized within 72 hours. However, Shoreline refused to re-admit the resident after his behavior returned to baseline. He remained in limbo at the psychiatric facility for 3 weeks, pending various hearings and appeals aimed at allowing him to return to his home (the Shoreline facility). Despite a ruling that he be allowed to return to Shoreline, Shoreline continued to refuse re-admission, which resulted in the patient being admitted to a facility over 65 miles away, and isolated from his otherwise attentive family who visited almost daily when he was in Oxnard.
This case highlights the devastating effects of the improper use of these medications as "chemical restraints." This patient required attentive nursing care, lots of redirection and activity, and a proper care plan to meet his needs without the use of psychiatric medication. Instead, he got more and more medication whenever his behavior escalated. But more medication led to more behavior, not less. Ultimately, the use of these medications cost the patient his home and his family.
Based on a Department of Public Health investigation following a complaint by the family, the facility was fined $8,000 for the improper use of chemical restraints and failing to develop and revise a plan of care. On October 19, 2010, the Law Offices of Jody C. Moore, APC filed in Ventura, CA County Court, a civil suit for Violation of Resident's Rights, Elder Abuse, Willful Misconduct and Negligence against Covenant Care California, LLC doing business as Shoreline Care Center in Oxnard, CA.
