Use of antipsychotic drugs is gaining attention from the medical and public arenas. Antipsychotic drug dispensing has increase, while the necessity has not. Nursing home doctors are prescribing increased amounts of drugs used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. However, the patients receiving the drugs include those patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but neither of the aforementioned disorders.
The federal government is working to campaign against over-prescription of these drugs with seminars and education of nursing home staff. However, some analysis has concluded that overuse of the drug to sedate patients has not had a strong enough consequence to see a significant change in behavior. For more, read the story.
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Robert W. Carter, Jr. is a Virginia attorney whose law practice is dedicated to protecting the rights of the victims of nursing home and assisted living neglect and abuse in Richmond, Roanoke, Norfolk, Lynchburg, Danville, Charlottesville, and across Virginia.
