Nursing Home Pharmacist Investigation Finds Deadly Errors
Elderly patients in nursing homes spend thousands of dollars on their medications alone. As the elderly age their health problems become apparent and therefore more prescriptions are administered to them. If your loved one resides in a nursing home, you trust that the pharmacists are properly medicating them and that the medications will not affect them in a negative way. Among 32 investigations from May 2010 to June 2011, 17 of the 32 pharmacists had failed to red-flag cases that nursing home residents were inappropriately prescribed strong antipsychotic medications like Seroquel, a drug used to treat schizophrenia.
The study also uncovered how the pharmacists overlooked and approved cases where the medications were being prescribed at questionable levels or in unsafe combinations. These combinations often had lethal consequences like risks of seizures, death, or accidents. This problem is widespread throughout the country and it is affecting thousands of elderly everyday. The study also showed that the nursing homes were severely underpaying the pharmacists, which might be one of the reasons why the pharmacists are trying to push various prescriptions towards the patients without evaluating if it is the best fit.
Pharmacists are entrusted with knowing the right prescriptions are given to your loved ones. When they fail to check the properties of each prescription and fail to think about how it will affect your loved one, they should be held accountable for those errors. Your loved one’s health is important, if it is every compromised by another person’s actions contacting a professional is the best option for compensation.
