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Wednesday, March 25, 2009
California Nursing Home Staff Lethally Drugged Patients
The decision to place a loved one in a nursing home can be difficult, especially when too many of these facilities are guilty of nursing home abuse.
Three Alzheimer's sufferers in California are believed to have died after nursing home staff members injected them with psychotropic drugs to keep them quiet. California Attorney General Edmund Brown revealed the deaths after announcing the arrests of a nurse, physician and pharmacist in Lake Isabella, just north of Los Angeles.
"These people maliciously violated the trust of their patients, by holding them down and forcibly administering psychotropic medications if they dared to question their care," Brown said in a statement.
Among those arrested is Gwen Hughes, director of nursing at the facility. Justice officials said that shortly after taking over in September 2006, Hughes ordered that dementia patients be given high doses of psychotropic medications to make them easier to “control”.
It was also stated that patients who argued with her were held down and forcibly given the injections. In addition to the three tragic deaths, several patients were alleged to have suffered medical complications from the injections.
The arrested workers face charges ranging from elder abuse to assault with a deadly weapon and face up to 11 years in prison if convicted.
Signs of Nursing Home Abuse
Many nursing homes provide exceptional care to their patients, but there are too many that do not. Underpaid staff and poorly trained employees can make nursing homes a danger instead of the assisted living facilities they are intended to be.
There are several common signs and forms of physical abuse in nursing homes.
-Falls
-Bedsores
-Malnutrition
-Dehydration
-Physical abuse
-Sexual abuse
-Mental abuse
Abuse and neglect of this kind is unacceptable. If you suspect a loved one is being abused in a nursing home facility, do not hesitate to schedule a consultation so that a knowledgeable attorney can help you investigate your claim. If you are in the Los Angeles, California area, let the experienced nursing home abuse lawyers at The Cochran Firm help guide you toward a safer standard of living for someone you care about.
Three Alzheimer's sufferers in California are believed to have died after nursing home staff members injected them with psychotropic drugs to keep them quiet. California Attorney General Edmund Brown revealed the deaths after announcing the arrests of a nurse, physician and pharmacist in Lake Isabella, just north of Los Angeles.
"These people maliciously violated the trust of their patients, by holding them down and forcibly administering psychotropic medications if they dared to question their care," Brown said in a statement.
Among those arrested is Gwen Hughes, director of nursing at the facility. Justice officials said that shortly after taking over in September 2006, Hughes ordered that dementia patients be given high doses of psychotropic medications to make them easier to “control”.
It was also stated that patients who argued with her were held down and forcibly given the injections. In addition to the three tragic deaths, several patients were alleged to have suffered medical complications from the injections.
The arrested workers face charges ranging from elder abuse to assault with a deadly weapon and face up to 11 years in prison if convicted.
Signs of Nursing Home Abuse
Many nursing homes provide exceptional care to their patients, but there are too many that do not. Underpaid staff and poorly trained employees can make nursing homes a danger instead of the assisted living facilities they are intended to be.
There are several common signs and forms of physical abuse in nursing homes.
-Falls
-Bedsores
-Malnutrition
-Dehydration
-Physical abuse
-Sexual abuse
-Mental abuse
Abuse and neglect of this kind is unacceptable. If you suspect a loved one is being abused in a nursing home facility, do not hesitate to schedule a consultation so that a knowledgeable attorney can help you investigate your claim. If you are in the Los Angeles, California area, let the experienced nursing home abuse lawyers at The Cochran Firm help guide you toward a safer standard of living for someone you care about.
Labels: Los Angeles
posted by Benjamin A. Irwin at 11:53 AM
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