More patients in San Diego County nursing homes and across the country are being diagnosed with schizophrenia for reasons that are questionable and raise concerns about nursing home negligence, as a recent article in The New York Times suggested. But are some patients more affected than others, and is race…
The recent sentencing of a former nursing home administrator from a Lake Isabella facility is sure to send shockwaves throughout the nursing home community. Channel 17 KGET news recently reported that Pamela Ott, a former nursing home administrator, was sentenced to three years probation and 300 hours of community service…
A Californian doctor, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, was sentenced to probation for improperly medicating nursing home patients, resulting in three deaths. Pormir will serve three years probation for his faulty actions in the Lake Isabella facility. Dr. Hoshang Pormir was a staff physician at the nursing home. State authorities contend that…
It is being reported by California Watch that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigation what is being described as lax care at several California nursing homes, and even threatening criminal and civil actions against those homes. Specifically, the investigators will be examining the use of psychotropic drugs in these…
The California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) has launched a comprehensive website that addresses the growing problem of drug misuse in California nursing homes. Every day, approximately 25,000 California nursing home patients are given an antipsychotic drug. Half of all dementia patients are administered these drugs despite FDA warnings…
San Diego’s 10News I-Team has conducted an investigation into what it is calling the chemical restraint of elderly residents of nursing homes. That is, using anti-psychotic drugs not necessarily for their prescribed use, but to control behavior in residents who otherwise wouldn’t be candidates for the drugs. The investigation profiles…
A nursing home caregiver is being charged with second degree murder after the death of an Alzheimer’s patient in a North Carolina nursing home. Authorities believe that caregiver Angela Almore deliberately administered large quantities of morphine to 84-year-old patient Rachel Holliday in order to make her “more manageable.” It is…
Last year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating allegations that some nursing homes were dispensing powerful narcotics to nursing home residents without a physician order. Because of the new scrutiny, however, nursing home and hospice trade organizations are arguing that many patients are now being left without pain medication…
This story is flat-out disturbing, and started with a concern we have heard many times from the families of our nursing home abuse clients. It began with Phyllis Peters could not wake up her 97-year-old mother, who was residing in Kern Valley Nursing Home. When she complained to Gwen Hughes,…
The Chicago Tribune recently published a brief article called 5 Things to Know about Psychotropics, which I thought I would pass along to you. Here are the five things: Your rights: A nursing facility cannot administer a psychotropic drug without a physician’s order, which by law requires informed consent and…