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Overmedication May Be Reason to Contact a Cleveland Nursing Home Lawyer
Posted on January 6th, 2012 No commentsIt’s a simple fact as we get older – pill bottles collect like birthdays. The older your loved one gets, the more medication they’ll need in order to live comfortably. From high blood pressure to medication to counteract dementia to simple vitamins, keeping your loved one medicated requires a regular schedule. As nursing homes cut staff, however, residents don’t always get the medication they need or in the timely fashion directed. This can be quite serious, resulting in stroke, serious illness or even death. Over or under medication is certainly enough cause to consult with a Cleveland nursing home lawyer.
Wrong Bottle
Healthcare is in crisis, and nursing homes are not exempt. Too many facilities are drastically understaffed, which means those on call are usually overworked on long, extended hours, with many on overtime. This leads to fatigue, which can result in simple mistakes that have serious repercussions. If someone receives diabetes medicine instead of a prescription for dementia, for example, both patients lose out on their needed medication, and may suffer serious, perhaps even life threatening side effects as a result.
Wrong Dosage
Ask any Cleveland nursing home lawyer. Over medication is far more common than you think, and it can have serious consequences. With physical restraint now against the law, some facilities secretly use overmedicating to control patients so they’ll be more docile. Aside from seriously affecting the quality of life your loved one enjoys, overmedicating can result in overdose and even death.
If your loved one seems to be behaving erratically, often appears zonked out and incapacitated, overmedication or the wrong type of medication may be the problem. If any of these occur, that’s reason enough to consult a Cleveland nursing home lawyer. Your loved one deserves advocacy. That’s what families are for.
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