Antipsychotic drugs are hazardous for the elderly

“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.”

[http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_f0fc1438-7aaf-11e0-8be7-0019bb30f31a.html]

Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said, “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 summary from HHS report OEI-07-08-00150 published May 4, 2011, said, “For the period January 1 through June 30, 2007, we determined using medical record review that 51 percent of Medicare claims for atypical antipsychotic drugs were erroneous, amounting to $116 million.”

For more information about psychiatry harming the elderly, download and read the CCHR booklet, Elderly Abuse — Cruel Mental Health Programs — Report and recommendations on psychiatry abusing seniors, from http://www.cchrstl.org/elderly.shtml.

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