A lawsuit alleging nursing home abuse at a Seal Beach care facility claims that staff drugged a resident by force in an attempt to take control over her retirement funds. According to a news report in The Orange County Register, 68-year-old Marsha "Aleah" Davis, a retired preschool teacher, is saying that nursing home staff at Country Villa medicated her forcibly with psychotropic drugs in order to chemically restrain her. State investigators who visited Country Villa in February did find that Davis had been improperly medicated. State officials say they will not fine or cite the nursing home because administrators have submitted a corrective plan.
Davis' lawsuit says she stayed three months at the nursing home after collapsing in her home and spending 10 days at a hospital. The suit alleges that some of the nursing home's staff members drugged Davis until she became disoriented and tried to collect her Social Security payments. The drugging only stopped after Davis' friend intervened. She was then transferred to another nearby nursing home where she is still a resident.
Chemical and Physical Restraint in Nursing Homes
According to data released by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, more than 8 percent of California long-term nursing home residents were physically restrained in 2008. Medicare statistics from 2010 show that 24.2 percent of residents in California's nursing homes were on antipsychotic drugs. Often, officials found, that these chemically restrained patients did not need these drugs and in fact, did better without them.
Elder Abuse Trends
Consumer watchdogs are saying that this trend of using chemical restraints to silence nursing home residents has become an epidemic in California. Both physical and chemical restraints are completely unnecessary and can be damaging to the health and well-being of our seniors. Not only are they unnecessary, but they are also illegal. California code prohibits using psychotherapeutic drugs for "patient discipline or staff convenience." But Davis, who had no psychological issues other than anxiety, was given Haldol, which is used to treat schizophrenia, the state's report says. Nursing staff also gave her a drug for dementia despite doctor's orders to discontinue the medication.
It is appalling to me that this nursing home did not receive an AA citation, the most stringent penalty possible under the law, for putting this patient's life in danger by administering powerful drugs. What is even more outrageous, if true, is that staff members tried to abuse and exploit a single woman who was in a vulnerable position with no family members to advocate for her. Why was no action taken against these staff members? Do they still work at the nursing home? Have there been other victims at this location? Has there been a pattern of similar elder abuse at this nursing facility? Has a criminal complaint been filed or investigation launched? Hopefully, this lawsuit will help expose any other instance of abuse and neglect.
Protecting Victims' Rights
Victims of nursing home abuse or neglect would be well-advised to contact an experienced Orange County personal injury lawyer, who has successfully handled similar cases. Civil litigation is not only one of the few remedies available for nursing home abuse victims, but it is also one of the ways to deter nursing homes or their staff members from indulging in what is unacceptable and criminal exploitation of our seniors.
SLS Consulting