A government report this week has documented a problem regarding the use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes. Too many of these institutions fail to comply with federal regulations designed to prevent overmedication, giving nursing home patients antipsychotic drugs in ways that violate federal standards for unnecessary drug use.
The report also found that these powerful, at times dangerous drugs were often prescribed for uses that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and do not qualify as medically accepted for Medicare coverage. Potentially most alarming, 88 percent of the time these drugs were prescribed for elderly patients with dementia, a population the FDA has warned faces an increased risk of death from this class of drugs.
Thanks and a hat tip to John S.