Signs your loved one may not be receiving proper medication care
Nursing Home AbuseYour loved one will likely rely on multiple prescriptions when they are a resident in a nursing home to help them manage their conditions. These medications can keep your family member alive, or they can help control symptoms of their illness. Your loved one depends on these medications, and they must be prescribed and administered correctly.
One study in the Pharmaceutical Journal has found that 16 to 27 percent of people who reside in nursing homes will be the victim of a medication error. Although this study found that the proportion of residents who suffered a severe injury is much lower, this finding likely results from the fact that these serious incidents are underreported. Even if your loved one is not obviously injured by a medication error, their health will still likely be negatively impacted.
If the nursing home has not given your family member the proper level of medication care or oversight, you may have a potential cause of action against the facility. You can file a nursing home abuse lawsuit, seeking compensation for the injury that your family member has suffered. Before you can even file a lawsuit, you must be aware that the nursing home made an error and was negligent.
Hiring a nursing home abuse lawyer is one of the first steps that you can take when you discover that your loved one was injured at the facility. Your nursing home abuse attorney can investigate what happened to your family member, gathering evidence to show the nursing home was negligent.
They can work with expert witnesses to demonstrate that the nursing home failed to live up to the duty of care they owed your loved one. If you win your nursing home abuse lawsuit, your family may be entitled to significant financial compensation.
Nursing Home Residents Take Multiple Medications
Due to the precarious nature of their health situation, a nursing home resident will take multiple medication prescriptions. One study showed that the average nursing home resident takes five to eight medications daily. Roughly 20 percent of nursing home residents will take ten or more prescriptions.
The more different medications a resident takes, the greater the potential for danger. Medications can have negative interactions with each other, causing a life-threatening health emergency in some cases. In addition, there is such a thing as a resident being overmedicated. When that happens, they can lose strength and mobility, which can lead to an overall deterioration of their condition.
Your family must take a proactive role in your loved one’s medical care. Not only must you be aware of all the medications your family member is taking, but you must also be vigilant to spot any changes in their condition. You will likely need to interact with your loved one’s treatment provider if you have any concerns about their condition and the medications they are taking.
Common Medication Errors That Occur in Nursing Homes
Numerous medication errors can occur in the nursing home setting, including:
- A conflict between two medications that should not be administered to the patient at the same time because there are contraindications
- Administering an incorrect dosage of the medication
- Missing a dose that your family member was supposed to receive
- Giving your loved one their medication at the wrong time
- Not realizing that your loved one will have an adverse reaction to a medication because the records were not reviewed property
- Giving the wrong medication to treat a certain condition
Signs of Medication Errors in a Nursing Home
Your loved one’s health may take a turn for the worse without any obvious explanation. You may sense that something is wrong without knowing the exact reason. Medication errors are often behind an unexplained decline in your family member’s health. Medication may be the culprit, although it might not be the first thing that the medical provider or family members suspect is behind the change in your loved one’s condition.
Cognitive and Behavioral Changes
Medications have certain side effects, either on their own or when wrongfully administered in conjunction with other prescriptions that may cause a conflict. Your loved one may seem like they are “out of it” more often than they were in the past. The medication can make them excessively drowsy or cause them to withdraw. Improper administration of medication can also cause behavior changes and potential cognitive decline. If you do not have any other reason for the changes in your family member’s behavior or cognition, it can result from improper medication care.
Weight Loss and Malnutrition
Your loved one may have a reduced appetite, and it may not result from their health condition or the nursing home’s lack of attention to their nutrition. It may be the medication that is causing an unexplained weight loss. Medication issues can also cause dehydration and dry mouth. Both malnutrition and dehydration can lead to a number of adverse health effects. A resident’s bones might be more brittle, both leading to falls and more serious injuries when these accidents occur. In addition, these issues may also leave the resident more susceptible to pressure sores and serious infections when they develop these bed sores.
Disorganized Medical Records
As the family, you have the right to review medication and medical records at your request. You should periodically request these records, so you are up to date on your loved one’s care and any issues they face.
You may be unable to make sense of your family member’s medical situation from the records they provide you. There may be missing entries in medication logs, and you may not make sense of which prescriptions your loved one is taking and the relevant dosage. Incomplete prescription records may be a sign that your family member is not receiving the proper medication care from the nursing home.
Unexplained Side Effects and Reactions
Each medication may have one or more side effects, even when properly administered. These side effects can become more pronounced when your loved one is not receiving the proper medication care. Your loved one can have an unexplained side effect or reaction, and you may not know its source. The medical staff may also have a difficult time getting down to the bottom of what is happening with your family member. In the meantime, their medical condition can worsen, and the reason for it may not show up on any tests.
Symptoms that may have previously been under control can worsen because of medication mistakes. Your loved one may not be given the proper dosage of their medication, or they may receive it at incorrect times. As a result, there may be a sudden and unexplained deterioration in their medical condition.
Chemical Restraints in a Nursing Home Setting
One way that nursing homes may abuse medications is by administering prescriptions as a means of keeping your loved one docile and sedated. The nursing home may not have the staff to care for your family member, or they may be struggling to deal with their deteriorating health condition. Nursing homes often use psychotropic medications to control residents who they view to be “difficult.”
Using medication in this manner is a form of chemical restraint that is considered nursing home abuse. If your loved one is prescribed psychotropic medications, it must be a direct result of their condition and not because the nursing home staff wants to keep them under control. Your family can file a nursing home abuse lawsuit if medications were used improperly.
Why Nursing Homes Make Medication Errors
Nursing homes are for-profit businesses. Their revenues come from the money that families pay for the care of their loved ones and reimbursements from Medicaid. Nursing homes must pay for both staff and the medications that they dispense. Nursing homes want to keep as many of these payments as possible to bolster their bottom lines.
Nursing homes often artificially reduce their staff because staffing represents the largest expense these facilities must pay. Even if they have the correct overall number of staff, they may hire too few registered nurses and too many certified nursing assistants. Registered nurses play a vital role in your loved one’s care and how their medications are monitored and administered. Low staffing leads to negligence and errors. The staff on hand may not be fully trained, and they may have too many patients to attend to, preventing them from exercising the proper level of care.
Staff May Be Interrupted During Medication Administration Rounds
Understaffing can specifically impact how medications are administered to nursing home residents. The nursing home will typically assign one or more nurses to make periodic rounds around the facility to administer medication as required. There may be other pressing issues throughout the nursing home that these staff members may be forced to deal with during medication rounds because no other staff may handle the issue. The result is that staff may be distracted and can make mistakes when administering medications.
It is incumbent on you as the family to be as vigilant as possible in monitoring the care that your loved one receives at a skilled nursing facility. If the staff is cutting corners and providing insufficient care, they certainly will not alert you to it. It is up to you to monitor the care that your loved one is receiving and take action if it falls short of the duty of care that the nursing home owes to your loved one. You need to raise your concerns to nursing home staff and potentially to the state if you suspect that your loved one is a victim of nursing home neglect.
Your Legal Options When a Family Member Was Injured By a Medication Error
You should also hire a nursing home abuse lawyer to represent your family in a lawsuit against the nursing home if your family member suffered an injury by a medication error. The nursing home can be legally liable if their negligence injured your loved one. They should pay damages in a settlement, or if you take your case to a jury trial and win.
If your nursing home abuse lawsuit is successful, your family can receive the following damages:
- Medical expenses to treat your family member’s injuries
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Punitive damages if the nursing home’s conduct was grossly negligent
If your loved one died due to a medication error, your family can file a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home. Then, you can receive damages for what your family has suffered from losing a loved one. The wrongful death lawsuit will be in addition to the damages that your family might receive in a survival action, which can lead to compensation for the harm that your loved one suffered between the time of their injury and death.
Contact a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Right Away
Any concerns about nursing home injuries should be addressed immediately to keep residents safe. If you believe your loved one was a victim, you should never wait to report the problem through the proper channels and seek legal assistance.
You should schedule a free initial consultation with a nursing home abuse attorney, so they can review your case and let you know whether you have a potential lawsuit against the facility. The conversation will cost you nothing, and you do not need to pay a nursing home abuse lawyer any money unless you can receive money in connection with your case.
There is no retainer or hourly bills that you need to deal with while your case is pending. If you do receive a settlement or jury award, your personal injury lawyer will receive a percentage of your financial recovery as their fee for the work they did on your case. If you do not get money for your lawsuit, you will not be hit with a legal bill at the end of your case.
You have nothing to lose by allowing a nursing home abuse attorney to review your situation and advise on your legal options.
Nathan Hughey, an attorney and fourth-generation South Carolinian, founded Hughey Law Firm in 2007. Before that, he spent five years defending nursing homes and insurance companies. Leveraging his experience, he now advocates for those injured or wronged by such entities, securing over $220 million in verdicts and settlements.