California Attorney General Says Nursing Director Drugged Patients to Control Them.What happened in a bucolic nursing home nestled in the California mountains starting in 2003 shocked investigators. When residents at the Kern Valley Nursing Home complained or annoyed nursing director Gwen Hughes, prosecutors say she chemically restrained them with powerful anti-psychotic drugs. Her methods were so severe, three residents died.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown says that Hughes ordered one patient drugged just for glaring at her, and another for throwing a carton of milk. Some residents were left drooling, dehydrated, and dangerously thin.
According to Brown, "In a couple cases, elderly people were actually held down, restrained against their will, and given excessive amounts of medicine to keep them quiet."
Even more shocking -- Hughes had been fired for over-drugging once before, from a nursing home in nearby Fresno, Calif. The administrator of that nursing home said they told her next employer only the dates she worked there, out of fear of lawsuits.
On Tuesday, three nursing home officials appeared at a hearing on charges of elder abuse at the Kern Valley facility from 2003 to 2007 -- Gwen Hughes, as well as administrator Pamela Ott and staff physician, Dr. Hoshang Pormir. The three defendants each face up to 11 years in prison, and all have pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing is set for March 9, 2010.
Additionally, a former pharmacist at the facility, Debbi Gayle Hayes, accepted a plea bargain on the condition that she testifies for the prosecution.
What happened in the rural California nursing home may be an extreme case, but experts say over-drugging is common nationwide, and the number of nursing home residents who are given these drugs is rising.
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Three Nursing Home Patients Killed by 'Chemical Restraints'
10 comments:
11 years is not long enough!
I think it would be easier to come up with a number of nursing facility residents who ARE NOT on pscyhotropic drugs.
Big pharma is reaping in how much money from drugging the old folks?
In addition: MEDICAID and MEDICARE are footing the bill to kill off the old folks.
How do I know?
This is an example of what happened to our loved one who is not included in any numbers, cause of death of the death certificate does not state drugged to death does it? NO!
11 years is not enough time with early out for good behavior and overcrowding heck they could be out in no time and what bothers me even more is we know there are more victims but prove it
"Even more shocking -- Hughes had been fired for over-drugging once before, from a nursing home in nearby Fresno, Calif. The administrator of that nursing home said they told her next employer only the dates she worked there, out of fear of lawsuits."
i hope hughes and her assistants are given the same treatment forced to take strong anti-psychotic drugs that she gave to those helpless victims let her recover then dose her up again then let her go through withdrawal symptoms no mercy for these cruel beasts
The investigators were shocked??? Come on now, surely they know chemical restraints is a common practice at many facilities.
They should have been disgusted or outraged -- not shocked.
It's a common practice all over. How many vulnearble people are chemically restrained to death and then reported as heart attacks?
I am sorry, helensniece, for the loss of your loved one this terrible way.
Nursing homes should be routinely checked for this wrongdoing. I know most states have inspection teams, who come in "unnanounced" but I also know the nursing homes are always aware before the inspection happens.
No, 11 years isn't much considering the offence and three innocent deaths.
How many family members complained about this facility only to be ignored? How many? Could any of these three lives be saved if action had taken place earlier?
It scares me to think this could be our future, my future.
Those who do nothing about the wrongdoing of others are just as guilty.
How many others were aware of the forced drugging, yet kept quiet for fear of becoming a whistleblower or just went along with the inhumane treatment business as usual?
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