From: hounddog23x@gmail.com   
      
   AMERICA TONIGHTTUE-FRI 10PM ET/7PM PT   
      
   Drugging dementia: Are antipsychotics killing nursing home patients?   
      
      
   'America Tonight' investigates why a third of long-term nursing home patients   
   with dementia receive antipsychotics   
   March 11, 2015 1:30PM ET   
   by David Martin   @Stories_Live & Sheila MacVicar   @Sheila_MacVicar   
      
   Why are nursing homes administering antipsychotics to dementia patients? 4:11   
      
   America Tonight | March 10, 2015   
   Share LinkEmbed in Website   
   In a special program Drugging America, America Tonight investigates the   
   overprescription of powerful medication, the harm it's causing and who's   
   benefiting from it. Tune in Friday at 10 p.m. ET/7 PT.   
      
   MISSION VIEJO, Calif. - When Gerry Gilgan left the hospital after brain   
   surgery in February 2013, the 78-year-old went into hospice care at Irvine   
   Cottages, south of Los Angeles. He had dementia, but was in good spirits and   
   lucid when he arrived.   
      
   The next day, daughter Patrice Gilgan's cellphone video shows a different man.   
      
   "Daddy, wake up! Daddy, wake up!" Patrice Gilgan says, unable to rouse her   
   father, a retired New York City firefighter, who has since died.   
      
   Gerry Gilgan's widow, Marie, was shocked by the sudden change.   
      
   "We took him into this home thinking this would be the best place for him,"   
   she said. "[After] a day or two, he's a different person. It was like he was a   
   vegetable. There was nothing to him. Staring in space, drugged out."   
      
   Within hours of his arrival, records show Gerry Gilgan began receiving the   
   powerful antipsychotic medications Haldol and Seroquel.   
      
   Nursing homes justify the use of antipsychotics, saying they calm agitated,   
   anxious or combative residents. According to the facility, Gerry Gilgan was   
   "combative," though closed-circuit cameras in the nursing home show no   
   evidence of belligerent    
   behavior.   
      
   Antipsychotic drugs are approved for patients with bipolar disorder or   
   schizophrenia, not for dementia. In fact, the FDA has given its strongest   
   warning - a so-called black box warning - telling physicians not to prescribe   
   antipsychotics to people with    
   dementia because they can cause heart failure, infection and death.   
      
   Despite the FDA warning, a Government Accountability Office report released   
   this month found one-third of long-term nursing home residents with dementia   
   have received antipsychotics.    
      
   'Zonked out'   
      
   Antipsychotics are often given to patients for the benefit of the officials at   
   the facility, in order to control them, said Carole Herman, founder of the   
   Foundation Aiding the Elderly in Sacramento.   
      
   "The patient can't walk anymore. The patient can't talk anymore, and so   
   there's less care because basically the patient is incapacitated," she said.   
   "They're zonked out all the time, so you don't have to be bothered with them."   
      
   Gerry Gilgan's prescription for Haldol was "as needed," as frequently as every   
   six hours.   
      
   St. Joseph Health managed Gerry Gilgan's care, which was paid for by Medicare.   
   St. Joseph declined to speak with "America Tonight" but released a statement:   
      
   "Each patient's condition is unique and often has many factors to consider in   
   determining the appropriate medications. We place high priority on a patient's   
   right to privacy, and out of respect for that privacy we are unable to discuss   
   the specifics of    
   this case."   
      
   'The patient can't walk anymore. The patient can't talk anymore, and so   
   there's less care because basically the patient is incapacitated. They're   
   zonked out all the time, so you don't have to be bothered with them.'   
   Carole Herman   
   founder, Foundation Aiding the Elderly   
   Five days after he arrived at Irvine Cottages, Gerry Gilgan fell and was taken   
   to the hospital. He didn't open his eyes for two and a half weeks, his   
   daughter said. A state investigation later concluded Gerry Gilgan was   
   "overmedicated." [PDF]   
      
   Patrice Gilgan said her father was never the same after the overdose.    
      
   Black box warning   
      
   Antipsychotics have carried the FDA's black box warning since 2005. Even so,   
   in 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general   
   issued a report saying dangerous and "off label" use of the drugs was   
   widespread in nursing homes.   
      
   Gerry Gilgan with his daughter Patrice in happier times.   
   Gerry Gilgan with his daughter Patrice in happier times.America Tonight   
   "These powerful and, at times, dangerous drugs are too often prescribed for   
   uses that are not approved by the FDA and do not qualify as medically accepted   
   for Medicare coverage," Daniel Levinson testified in a Senate committee   
   hearing. "The FDA has    
   imposed a black box warning emphasizing an increased risk of death when used   
   by elderly patients with dementia. Yet 88 percent of the time, antipsychotics   
   were prescribed for elderly patients with dementia."   
      
   Pressuring nursing homes to reduce use of the powerful drugs, Medicare   
   requires nursing homes to report the percentage of long-term residents   
   receiving antipsychotics.   
      
   Antipsychotic use in nursing homes has decreased since 2011, but some nursing   
   homes still report using these medications for 70 percent or more of   
   residents.    
      
   "America Tonight" filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FDA for   
   adverse events related to the antipsychotics Seroquel, Risperdal and Zyprexa.   
   While this doesn't prove causation, there have been dozens of cases of   
   patients with dementia    
   dying fter receiving an antipsychotic.   
      
   'An incident last night'   
      
   Marisa Conover's mother, Genine Zizzo, was an independent, alert 82-year-old.   
   She still drove, lived at home and did her own laundry. One morning in 2012,   
   she tripped over tubing for an oxygen machine she'd started using for   
   congestive heart failure. X-   
   rays showed her back was badly bruised.   
      
   A doctor recommended about a week of physical therapy. Roseville Point Health   
   and Wellness in Roseville, California, had a room available.   
      
   Before Zizzo checked in, Conover said she went to look at the home - to make   
   sure her mother wouldn't be getting antipsychotics. She said she'd heard about   
   the dangers of the drugs from a neighbor.   
      
   "I went there specifically to tell them if that was their policy, to use   
   antipsychotic drugs on an elderly person, then that would not be the facility   
   for us," Conover said.   
      
   The next morning, Conover went to the nursing home. A staff member approached   
   and said they needed to talk because there had been an incident the previous   
   night.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)