if the state regulators or Joint commission finds evidence anywhere in the chart where pain went untreated, its a problem, and even if its only the family members saying the patient is in "pain" and what you see is a person sleeping you still have to act in someway....
you can't win in this game....
we do have lots of "loving" family members who think that reality is like ER and that death is supposed to be pretty....
its not.....
we have those family members who DEMAND that we give more narcotic because its just so hard to sit there waiting for death ...what they mean is its too hard on THEM.....
then we get the divided families argueing over their parent in front of them......
what passes for love, I tell ya......
as far as "drugging" up patients....is not ethical nor legal from my understanding to chemically restrain anyone unless there is thorough documentation that there is a need for it and the family and doctor all are in agreement...especially if the patient poses a risk to himself or others....
you see, NH's aren't supposed to be using physical restraints anymore, so their options are very narrow.....people will sue no matter what happens.....
until the public and society understands that death is a natural and NECESSARY part of our world then we get these constant conflicts....
I wish people would stop bitching about nursing homes or hospitals or the like because the alternative is there for YOU to care for your loved one at YOUR house.....
we all know that the kind of devotion is just not there in 2005 in the good ol USA....we talk a big line but when it comes right down to it, most people will be ditching their parents in NH's no matter what.......sad...
I saw my mother-in-law in a nursing several years ago in Florida and she got good care and her husband visited her twice a day. But then I saw and heard about patients there with extended family who were lucky to have any visitors once a year. The 'disposable' elderly attitude a lot of Americans have sickens me more than almost any other issue.