Concern about overuse of antipsychotic medications and similar drugs in nursing homes, hospitals, and other health care facilities has prompted a sweeping proposal that would require Massachusetts facilities to inform patients, or their legal representatives, in writing of the medications’ risks, benefits, and alternatives.
This informed consent process would need to be repeated every three months if patients were taking these drugs long term, under a bill filed Friday by Representative Shaunna O’Connell, a Taunton Republican, and Senator Patricia Jehlen, a Somerville Democrat who has cochaired the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs.
Comments
You tell Scott Plumb, who used to be the seniors' coordinator in the town where I live, that this bill is an important reassurance to an old woman like myself. He and his organization should get behind it, pronto!
Does this bill apply also to use of antipsychotics in psychiatric facilities?
Institutions do not prescribe antipsychotic medications; physicians do. WHO are these physicians?
How does someone who doesn't have the ability to make rational decisions due to a mental illness consent to anything?