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Article Excerpt
For David Couch, an attorney in Little Rock, Arkansas, Robert Harris was "just a grumpy old man" suffering from mild dementia who should not have died eight weeks after admitting himself to a nursing home.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Harris wanted to be around people, said Couch, and felt bored staying at the house of his daughter, who was often away at work.
"He was a very active man, set in his ways. He was complaining a lot about stuff, walking around" at Lawrence Hall Nursing Center in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, Couch said. "Because he was so active, the people at the nursing home thought he had psychotic problems and that he needed drugs."
The complaint in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Harris's estate against the nursing home and an adjunct hospital alleges that the drugs administered shortly after his arrival--Risperdal, a so-called atypical antipsychotic, and Haldol, an older antipsychotic--caused Harris to become "an involuntary catatonic prisoner." In detailing claims that the defendants had inadequate staff and failed to monitor his condition, the complaint alleges that after Harris started the drugs, he stopped eating and drinking normally, lost almost 10 percent of his body mass within a month, could not walk about as he did before, became confused and increasingly drowsy, and then developed incontinence that required a catheter.
The catheter was inserted improperly, puncturing Harris's urethra, Couch said. Harris died from a massive infection. (Downing v. Lawrence Hall Nursing Ctr., No. CV-2002-67 (At-k., Lawrence Co. Cir. filed June 10, 2002).)
In being treated with so-called chemical restraints, Harris was not alone: In recent years, increasing numbers of nursing home residents have been prescribed antipsychotic medications to manage their behavior. The most recent research, by Becky Briesacher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, shows that nearly 30 percent of the nation's 1.4 million nursing home...
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