Stop drugging old people with dementia!

“What we’re really hoping for is to draw attention to the issue that we are inappropriately prescribing these antipsychotic medications to people living with dementia in long-term care,” Stephen Samis, CFHI vice-president for programs, told the Star.

“There are other, more effective ways of managing the so-called challenging behaviours that are exhibited and that cause people to be put on these medications.”

While acknowledging that some residents do need the medications, such as those with a diagnosis for psychosis, Samis pointed out that long-term care homes are inappropriately give them to individuals who have no such diagnosis as a short-term fix for aggressive behaviour."

When nursing homes and hospitals are killing us old folks with the "Liverpool Care Pathway" (Google the term)), they are use powerful drugs to turn us into zombies.

Please send am email to Stephen Samis of Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement... and tell him that you support his organisation's efforts to protect the vulnerable.