how to report a nurse overmedicating a patient in private home

If you suspect your loved one is being overmedicated by nursing home staff, contact their physician immediately and have them review all medications given. If a patient has been found to have been overmedicated for a long period of time, they will need to be slowly weaned off of the medication.

Full Answer

What is overmedication in a nursing home?

Overmedication in Nursing Homes. Intentional overmedication is most often done with the purpose of making a patient easier to control, often referred to as chemical restraint. Antipsychotics and sedatives are medications that may calm a patient down, or make a patient more likely to comply with directions given by caregivers, family members,...

What should I do if a patient is overmedicated?

If a patient is found to have been overmedicated over a period of time, the patient should be carefully weaned from the medication, with the assistance of a physician. If overmedication is suspected to be a sign of abuse or neglect, the patient should be removed from the situation.

Is overmedication a sign of abuse or neglect?

If overmedication is suspected to be a sign of abuse or neglect, the patient should be removed from the situation. If necessary, the patient should receive medical treatment for any adverse reactions or conditions stemming from the overmedication.

What are the risks of overmedication?

Chronic overmedication can also cause patients to become addicted to drugs, which can pose risks and difficulties for discontinuing the overmedication. Family members, patients, physicians, and care facility staff members may be capable of preventing overmedication.

What are the different types of abuse in a nursing home?

There are five common types of nursing home abuse, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA): physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Additional types of nursing home abuse include self-neglect and abandonment.

Who would you notify if a family member has a complaint about the nursing care?

Report the situation to a supervisor or the nurse's employer immediately. Then, contact your state BON (or state licensing authority) and file a complaint. If you are unsure whether a nurse has done something that should be reported, contact the state BON for assistance.

What are the 3 most common complaints about nursing homes?

What Are the Three Most Common Complaints About Nursing Homes?Slow Response Times. By far, the most common complaint in many nursing homes is that staff members are slow to respond to the needs of residents. ... Poor Quality Food. ... Social Isolation. ... When Complaints Turn into a Dangerous Situation.

What is the most common abuse in nursing homes?

Emotional abuse is the most common type of elder abuse, according to data from the World Health organization (WHO). The WHO found that one out of three of nursing home residents or their families reported cases of emotional nursing home abuse.

What happens when a nurse is reported to the board?

Once a complaint hits their desk, the board has to determine if the facts as stated in the complaint are a violation of the laws that govern a nurse's practice. If so, an investigation is initiated, and the nurse may respond to the allegations. The board then resolves the complaint. It may or may not require a hearing.

When should a nurse be reported?

When there is a legal requirement to report under the Regulated Health Professions Act, you must do so within 30 days of the incident. In any event, we encourage you to submit the report as quickly as possible.

What is classed as neglect in a care home?

Neglect includes not being provided with enough food or with the right kind of food, or not being taken proper care of. Leaving you without help to wash or change dirty or wet clothes, not getting you to a doctor when you need one or not making sure you have the right medicines all count as neglect.

What is nursing home neglect?

It occurs when residents in nursing homes do not get proper care and suffer physical or mental health problems as a result. “Neglect is the failure to meet an older adult's basic needs. These needs include food, water, shelter, clothing, hygiene, and essential medical care.”

How do you handle complaints in a nursing home?

To help mitigate problems — and to solve them — follow these five rules.Investigate before you complain to the staff or administration. ... Work to establish good relationships with the nursing aides. ... Get involved in the nursing home. ... Don't miss important meetings. ... Observe, note and report serious lapses in care.

What is considered patient abuse?

Patient abuse or neglect is any action or failure to act which causes unreasonable suffering, misery or harm to the patient. Elder abuse is classified as patient abuse of those older that 60 and forms a large proportion of patient abuse. Abuse includes physically striking or sexually assaulting a patient.

What is passive neglect?

Passive neglect – the failure by a caregiver to provide a person with the necessities of life including, but not limited to, food, clothing, shelter, or medical care, because of failure to understand the person's needs, lack of awareness of services to help meet needs, or lack of capacity to care for the person.

What is neglectful abuse?

'Neglect' means negligent treatment or maltreatment of a child, including the failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical treatment, or supervision. Sexual Abuse/Exploitation.

How do you know if you are overmedicated in a nursing home?

Overmedication can happen either because of negligence in a nursing home or intentional misconduct by nursing home staff. Some signs that a patient is overmedicated include lethargy, confusion, reclusiveness or other unusual behavior, and excessive sleeping. Any of these signs should be reported to a resident’s primary care physician or the administration of the nursing home.

What happens if a patient is overmedicated?

When a patient is overmedicated by mistake, it may give rise to a medical neglect claim against the facility. Often, elderly patients must take a number of different medications. If staff members are not adequately trained or there is understaffing at a facility, they are more likely to make mistakes when administering medications. In general, doctors should be consulted when administering both over the counter medications and prescribed medications to prevent injuries that can result from prescribing medications that are incompatible.

What is the age to sue a nursing home for elder abuse?

Most states have a rule about the minimum age a senior must be to bring an elder abuse lawsuit, which is usually 60, 65, or 70. If the nursing home has a practice or policy of overmedicating its residents, the nursing home will be directly liable for the overmedication and any injuries that arise from it. If intentional conduct is at issue, punitive damages may be available to punish and deter the defendant.

Why Do Nursing Homes Overmedicate?

The nursing homes that do overmedicate do so for a variety of reasons. In some nursing homes, they just do not have enough staff to adequately take care of all of their patients.

Intentional Overmedication

There are also situations where patients are intentionally overmedicated. The patients who are aggressive, emotional, or uncooperative demand the most attention, but some facilities lack the time and human resources.

How Do I Tell if a Nursing Home Is Overmedicating?

In the United States, fewer than 20% of nursing home residents medically require antipsychotic medication; however, you will find nursing homes where a much higher proportion of the population is on this type of medication. For example, in the state of Florida, over 70% of nursing home residents are on antipsychotics.

What to Do if the Facility Is Overmedicating?

Typically, you will be able to notice these types of changes very easily. If your family member is acting very differently, you should ask to see a log of the medications that have been administered.

What does overmedicating a resident mean?

Overmedicating a nursing home resident could be abuse if it was intentional. Overmedication occurs when a resident takes, or is given, more medication than is necessary or than has been prescribed by their doctor.

How to determine if a nursing home is overmedicating a resident?

If you are a loved one, you should always be on the lookout for abnormal behaviors or communication when you visit or call. Early signs of overmedication can include:

What kind of compensation could we be entitled to?

If you suspect your loved one is being overmedicated by nursing home staff, contact their physician immediately and have them review all medications given. If a patient has been found to have been overmedicated for a long period of time, they will need to be slowly weaned off of the medication.

Why do nursing homes neglect?

One of the reasons that nursing home neglect can continue for an extended period before anyone on the outside notices is that many nursing home patients are too ill to speak up about it. Often, nursing home abuse is only detected and reported after relatives who visit the patient in the nursing home notice that the patient has pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores, or is generally less active, healthy, and mobile than he or she was at the last visit. Not all declines in a patient’s health can be attributed to errors or negligence on the part of nursing home staff; as a rule, the patient would not be in the nursing home if he or she were well enough to live independently. Although it is upsetting to see your elderly relative suffering declining health, it is even more upsetting to find out that his or her suffering could have been reduced or prevented if the nursing home staff had adhered to the legally determined standard of care. Specifically, relatives sometimes arrive at the nursing home to find patients in a medication-induced stupor; sometimes this can be a sign of negligence. Overmedication is widespread in nursing homes, and it can be grounds for nursing home abuse lawsuits.

What happened to the Watsonville nursing homes?

In 2015, the operators of two nursing homes in Watsonville, California paid a $3.8 million settlement after they were sued for violations of the Federal False Claims Act. A whistleblower had alerted authorities to the widespread overuse and inappropriate prescribing of medication for patients in the two nursing homes between 2007 and 2012. As a result of being overmedicated, patients suffered the following complications:

What is the California nursing home law?

Title 22 is the California law that regulates patient care in nursing homes. It stipulates that nursing home employees should only perform treatments and interventions that are medically necessary; assisting a patient to perform daily activities, such as feeding, toileting, and walking, is always to be preferred over faster solutions, like liquid diets, adult diapers, and wheelchairs. Unfortunately, overworked nursing home staff sometimes resort to overmedicating patients so that they cannot perform basic functions without assistance. Additionally, nursing homes sometimes overuse psychiatric medications to deal with patient behaviors that consume employees’ time, even when these drugs are not medically necessary.