My elderly mother suffers from dementia and is currently being treated at the hospital for a urinary tract infection and low blood pressure. She is receiving antibiotics and fluids intravenously for those conditions and she is improving.
However, she has a history of non-compliance with medications. She is on thyroid and kidney meds which she takes on and off whenever she feels like it. Today, I learned that the doctors at the hospital are planning to put her on psych meds because when they insist that she take her medicine she becomes agitated. I told the doctor that I would get agitated too if he kept insisting that I do something that I didn't want to do. She has been on several different psych meds in the past and has suffered through troublesome side effects like tremors, apathy, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, facial paralysis, restlessness and more.
The doctors are not consulting me or her private physicians regarding the psych medications they plan to prescribe. Can they do this? Is this legal or ethical? Should I consult a lawyer?
Our mom was non-compliant when living on her own, but in Assisted Living, where the meds are dispensed on a schedule, her paranoia and agitation were dissipated. The crying jags and wanting to die went away. Mental pain is every bit as real as physical pain, let them alleviate it.
Let the Dr.'s do their job. Often several meds have to be tried before finding one that works.
All anti-psychotic medications have a black box warning that specifically state that they are not indicated for the treatment of dementia related and/or disturbed behavior, especially in the elderly. The magnitude of risk of stroke is sufficient to outweigh likely benefits in the treatment of behavioral disturbances associated with dementia. The risk of stroke, heart attack and death is three times higher with anti-psychotics vs. a placebo.
My mother's non-compliance is a behavioral problem. She only becomes agitated when someone insists she take her medicine when she has already stated that she doesn't want to take it. Imagine what you would do if someone kept trying to get you to do something that you are vehemently opposed to. Exposing her to higher health and mortality risks, not to mention the effects of medication induced impairment, will only tip the scales from vulnerability to death.
This is a very complicated topic and I appreciate that you all took the time to respond. My question was "Can doctors in a hospital administer psych medications to an elderly dementia patient without consulting her family?" I don't expect the doctors to call me every time her meds need adjusting, however, I do expect them to consult with me if they are planning on adding medicines that will increase her risks.
If it was me, instead of talk about consulting an attorney, I'd clue the docs in on what medications have been tried in the past that caused her the distress you've outlined. I imagine they'd find that information beneficial to her care.
I find that both disturbing and unethical. In the Patient Bill of Rights, it clearly states that we have the right to "receive all the information that we need to give informed consent for any proposed procedure or treatment. This information shall include the possible risks and benefits of the procedure or treatment." And, the right to "participate in all decisions about treatment."
I mean, why let a little thing like patient rights get in the way?
I spent years begging doctors to add meds to stop my mom's abuse of me - her primary caregiver and whipping post. Why would you want her agitated?
My mother is not combative or abusive to me or to the staff at the hospital. As I said in my previous posts, she only becomes agitated when they insist on giving her meds that she doesn't want. She is not agitated at any other time.
My mother does not pull IV lines. The doctor that gave my mother the zyprexa did not speak to me about that proposed treatment before it was given. Another doctor that I had not heard of or spoken to before told me that she heard that doctors were planning on putting my mother mood stabilizers. I told her that I was not informed about that plan and had made it clear upon my mother's admission to the hospital that no anti-psychotics were to be prescribed to my mother without our informed consent.
Thank you for your comments.