Inadequate Care Continues to Plague Nursing Home Residents

October 20, 2010 (Press-News.org) A tug of war between the Drug Enforcement Administration and nursing homes has vulnerable nursing home residents caught in the middle.

The New York Times reports the DEA has put a stop to easy nursing home access to powerful painkillers. The system allowed nurses, pharmacists and health care professionals to write prescriptions for nursing home patients. Generally only physicians have legal authority to write prescriptions.

Nursing Home Residents in Distress

The system was rife with abuse, prompting the new DEA rules. But now there's a dilemma: some nursing home patients in distress aren't getting pain-controlling medications in a timely manner, and delays run from hours to days.

There are often delays in treatment because the nursing homes refuse to put a doctor on staff or have all-hours access to a physician able to write prescriptions whenever needed.

DEA spokesperson Gary L. Boggs told the Times that the DEA had the best interests of patients in mind when it tightened the relaxed access to powerful drugs. "What we see is nurses unilaterally calling in prescriptions, or pharmacists dispensing controlled substances without a prescription, then trying to get a doctor to sign a prescription for a patient he never saw."

The result too often was over-medicated nursing home residents, and residents taking addictive drugs that no doctor had prescribed. While the lax rules were convenient for nursing home personnel, abuse was rampant.

A Lack of Quality Nursing Home Care

Nursing home critics say the larger problem is that nursing homes aren't providing quality, crucial medical care to their residents.

Senior policy lawyer at the Center for Medicare Advocacy Toby Edelman told the Times that nursing homes must provide medical care for residents.

"If people are so sick that they desperately need pain medication, they should be seen by a doctor," Edelman said. "The absence of doctors in nursing homes has been a problem for decades."

Protecting Victims of Abuse and Neglect

Families of nursing home residents who are victims of nursing home abuse or neglect in New York should contact an elder care negligence attorney to discuss the facts of the case and be advised of legal options. A nursing home abuse lawyer helps you protect your loved one from neglect and harm.

Article provided by The Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C.
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