Nursing Home Abuse: Overmedication
Overmedicating patients is one of the most common forms of nursing home abuse today. Keeping patients in a drowsy and altered state allows the staff to be much less attentive and provides the patient with less care.
Overmedication in lawsuits is not always easy to prove, and many nursing home abuse lawyers recommend class action suits when it comes to overmedication abuse. This is because it is easier to prove a trend within a nursing home than it is to prove a single instance. However, if a class action lawsuit is not possible, a highly qualified lawyer can help create a much better scenario for the nursing home abuse victim.
Overmedication is not all that difficult to detect for family members who stay in close contact with the resident. Often the signs are clear, such as a sudden withdrawal from those around them, sleeping too much, the sense that they do not hear or respond when spoken to, and even the sudden onset of drooling, nose picking, or tongue smacking.
Medication that is used in overmedication abuse is often likely to cause dry mouth, nausea, drowsiness, fatigue, and clouded judgment. If overmedication is suspected, the best thing to do is to contact a lawyer and ask for advice.
In most cases, a lawsuit will be recommended to not only dispel the problem, but to compensate the victim for their suffering and attain ample funds to move them to a facility that doesn’t overmedicate or perform other forms of abuse.
Lawsuits are setting a higher standard incare, and nursing home abuse lawyers are working diligently on behalf of victims that can not or are too afraid to speak up for themselves. Abuse goes undetected because victims feel trapped, they have nowhere else to go and are fearful of repercussions if they should tell someone about the abuse.
Filing a lawsuit on behalf of a victim can lead to repercussions, and it is always best to move the resident to another facility if it is at all possible while litigation begins. A lawyer can often assist in how to legally break contracts based on abuse suspicions even while the allegations of abuse are under investigation.
While nursing home abuse lawsuits are not easy to prove when overmedication is the abuse that is being alleged, if the resident is evaluated in a different facility and their medication is significantly altered, this is evidence of nursing home abuse.
Numerous physicians can review the resident’s charts and meet with the victim to help determine if overmedication is present while the lawyer proceeds with a investigation and filing a lawsuit.
It is important that family members continue to act on behalf of their loved one in order to file a lawsuit, as it is unlikely that the victim will be able to handle the entire process, if any of it, on their own. Winning a lawsuit is a team effort, and your family member will be counting on you to help them throughout the entire process.
If the overmedication was severe, they may not even remember it very well if at all. If your loved one has other serious medical problems such as dementia or Alzheimer’s they may not be able to testify on their own behalf.
Nursing home abuse lawyers are the backbone of breaking through abuse, and their services are desperately needed throughout the country. Of course, there is no guarantee that another nursing home won’t be guilty of some form of abuse, but thankfully, lawyers are becoming educated not only of the standards of the law, but the standards of nursing homes in their area.
Lawyers become very familiar with the substandard nursing home, as more and more family members are stepping forward on behalf of their loved one to file lawsuits. This higher level of vigilance by family members is effectively raising the standard of care throughout the country.
If you suspect overmedication, or any other form of abuse, it is highly recommended that you contact a lawyer as soon as possible. Aside from filing a lawsuit, often simply contacting an attorney will entice the nursing home in question to raise their standard of care.
Nick Johnson is lead counsel with Johnson Law Group. Johnson represents plaintiffs in many states and focuses on injury cases involving Fen-Phen and PPH, Paxil, Mesothelioma and Nursing Home Abuse. Call 1-888-311-5522 today or visit http://www.johnsonlawgroup.com for a free case evaluation.
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