California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog
Do you have an elderly loved one who currently resides in a nursing home or assisted-living facility in Berkeley or elsewhere in the Bay Area? If so, and if your elderly parent or loved one is currently taking multiple medications for a range of health issues, they could be at increased risk of suffering an injury due to a medical mistake or medical negligence in the facility. This phenomenon of being on a number of different medications is known as “polypharmacy,” and it can lead staff members at facilities to be more likely to make errors in administering medications or even in prescribing medications based on the senior’s existing medication regimen due to potential interactions or dangerous overlaps.
What should you know about polypharmacy and nursing home injuries in Berkeley, CA, and throughout the Bay Area? Our Northern California nursing home neglect lawyers can provide you with more information, and we can speak with you today about holding a facility accountable for medical negligence that resulted in your loved one’s injuries.
What is Polypharmacy?
Polypharmacy, according to the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Health, is “defined as the regular use of multiple drugs — typically five or more — to treat multiple chronic conditions,” and it has become “a serious and growing public health concern among older adults because of the risk of adverse effects or even life-threatening symptoms . . . as the number of medications multiples.”
Indeed, UCI Health reports, polypharmacy has been associated with cases of medication mistakes and medical negligence that may put an older adult at increased risk of “falls, fractures, kidney impairment, frailty, cognitive dysfunction, and hospitalization.” Ultimately, as a result of injuries linked to polypharmacy and medication mistakes, seniors can lose greater mobility and, in the most egregious cases, can die as a result of their injuries.
How Nurses Home Can Be Responsible for Injuries Associated with Polypharmacy
In cases of polypharmacy, seniors in nursing homes should first be properly assessed to ensure that they actually need all of the medications that they are taking — many do not, and taking too many medications can have harmful effects.
As a study in the journal BMC Nursing explains, staff at nursing homes and related facilities can be more prone to making mistakes in the administration and prescribing of medications in cases of polypharmacy. Under such circumstances, the nursing home can often be liable for harm.
Contact Our Berkeley, California Nursing Home Neglect and Negligence Attorneys for Assistance with Medical Mistake Injury Claims
Older adults who reside in Northern California nursing homes and require multiple medications to treat and prevent a range of health conditions should not have to worry — and neither should their family members — about a polypharmacy-related medical mistake. Yet these errors are more common than many of us would like to think about, and it is important to hold any facility liable after harm results from medical negligence. An experienced Berkeley nursing home neglect lawyer at our firm can begin working with you on your case today. Contact the California Nursing Home Law Group to get started.
See Related Blog Posts:
The Hidden Danger in California Nursing Homes: How Chronic Understaffing Puts Residents at Risk
Brain Injuries and Dementia Risks in Sonoma County, California
