The New York Times published an eye-opening article about how some antipsychotic drugs given to the elderly are dangerous, and even potentially lethal.

Nearly one in seven elderly nursing home residents, nearly all of them with dementia, are given powerful atypical antipsychotic drugs even though the medicines increase the risks of death and are not approved for such treatments, a government audit found.

More than half of the antipsychotics paid for by the federal Medicare program in the first half of 2007 were “erroneous,” the audit found, costing the program $116 million for those six months.

So…the nursing home residents are being given toxic medications, families and caregivers are duped into believing the pharmaceuticals are of more benefit than they are, and taxpayers are being fleeced to the tune of more than $225 million per year. It’s unconscionable. For some pharmaceutical companies, though, it seems to be business as usual.

Many of the toxic medications are specifically and, according to the article, illegally marketed for use by the elderly. Television commercials for the drug Abilify, for example, show a middle-aged woman taking care of her elderly mother, and talking about how she wants to do everything possible to help her mother from losing more of her memory to dementia, including giving her Abilify. Other common drugs that are potentially lethal to the elderly are Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Geodon.

Why would doctors continue to prescribe these medications? According to The New York Times:

While the Food and Drug Administration has warned doctors that using antipsychotic drugs in elderly patients with dementia increases their risks of death, doctors continue the practice because they have few other good choices, said Dr. Daniel J. Carlat, editor in chief of The Carlat Psychiatry Report, a medical education newsletter for psychiatrists.

“Doctors want to maximize quality of life by treating the patient’s agitation even if that means the patient will die a bit sooner,” Dr. Carlat said.

Until regulators take action based on this report, the families of nursing home residents will have to be extra vigilant about which medications their loved ones are taking. Ask for a full list of all medications, and find out why they were prescribed. If you see any of the antipsychotics on the list, ask to speak with a doctor to see if the medications are necessary, helpful, and not likely to cause harm.

At HensonFuerst Attorneys, we take our role as advocates for nursing home residents very seriously, and we will continue to protect their rights, to speak for people who have no voice. If you believe someone you know has been harmed by harmful medication, please feel free to call us at 1-800-4-LAWMED. Someone is always available—24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can also learn more on our website at http://www.lawmed.com/.

If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

Infusion pumps are used in hospitals and nursing homes to deliver nutrients or medications to people in hospitals or nursing homes. One brand, the Colleague infusion pumps made by Baxter International, has been recalled after the company failed to fix problems with battery failures and software errors.

According to an article in the New York Times, the defective pumps have been linked to more than 56,000 complaints of injuries, deaths, and malfunctions.

Although the Colleague pumps haven’t been sold since 2005, the FDA reports that there may be as many as 200,000 pumps still in use. Now, Baxter is ordered to recall and destroy all remaining Colleague Volumetric infusion pumps.

This is a positive step for patients, but we can’t help but wonder how many additional people have been harmed while Baxter delayed taking appropriate action. The FDA has also begun an initiative to improve the safety and effectiveness of all infusion pumps. To read more about these developments, see the Q&A guide written by the FDA: Infusion Pump Recall Q&A.

If you know someone who has been injured by an infusion pump and want to discuss your legal options, feel free to call the lawyers of HensonFuerst at 1-800-4-LAW-MED. If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

A recent New York Times article talks about a nursing home danger most of us don’t even consider–beds with rails. Although rails are commonly used to protect frail patients from accidentally rolling out of bed, their design actually poses a danger of entrapment, when a patient get trapped between the rail and the mattress.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), although entrapment is uncommon, when it happens the results can be disastrous. They have documented 480 deaths, 138 injures, and 185 “close calls” …but experts believe that many more cases are never reported.

The NYT article was written by Paula Span, who wrote a terrific book called “When the Time Comes: Families with Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions.” In the article, Ms. Span quotes Dr. Steven Miles, a geriatrician bioethicist at the University of Minnesota:

The ultimate solution would be to establish manufacturing standards so that no bed has a dangerous gap between mattress and rail, just as one can no longer buy a crib that could entrap an infant. “We value babies more than elderly nursing home patients,” Dr. Miles observed.

Meanwhile, here’s his straightforward counsel about how to distinguish a quality rehab facility or nursing home from an unsafe one: “Count off 10 beds. See how many have rails in use. If more than one or two in 10 beds have rails up, walk out of the facility.”

Click the link to read the full article: New York Times bed rail article.

And to read the FDA’s guidance about hospital bed safety, which includes a diagram of hospital bed entrapment zones, click here: Hospital Bed Safety.

To read more about legal issues surrounding nursing homes, visit our site here: HensonFuerst Law.

In light of the a new FDA rule that says that some Class III medical devices approved during the 1970’s must now prove their safety, here at HensonFuerst we believe that these and many other outdated yet approved devices are receiving not only an unjust loophole, but also an unsafe one under the Riegel v. Medtronic decision that determined that because of preemption, it is difficult to sue a medical device maker for a device that has been approved by the FDA.  It is especially unsettling that the process by which these products have been approved has been grossly negligent for such a long time.  Furthermore, FDA has no subpoena power—making manufacturers even unaccountable to the government.

Please navigate to the Fierce Pharma website for an article on Bart Stupak’s push for FDA to have subpoena power.

Also, click to read an article from ZDNet Healthcare which talks further about the FDA’s re-approval of devices that have been preempted by federal law considered free from litigation.

Further disturbing news revealed inspections showed the company had not only several tests that showed salmonella contamination but also cockroaches, a leaky roof and filthy equipment, the FDA has said. Viewers to this HensonFuerst Nursing Home blog were alerted in January to the salmonella outbreak involving peanut butter & peanut paste shipped to nursing homes from Peanut Corporation of America.  Heightened vigilance is encouraged for those viewers who oversee the care of family and friends entrusted to nursing home care.

Click to read this Breaking News story from Reuters