According to a review ordered by the UK’s Department of Health, excessive use of the medication causes an estimated 1,800 deaths and almost as many strokes among older people every year. As many as many as 144,000 people suffering from dementia are being given anti-psychotic drugs unnecessarily.
The Chicago Tribune’s unprecedented review of more than 40,000 state and federal inspection reports found that all types of nursing homes have been cited for improperly administering psychotropic drugs. The reports show thousands of elderly and disabled people have been affected, many of them drugged without their consent or without a legitimate psychiatric diagnosis that would justify treatment.
Tens of thousands of vulnerable dementia patients are being prescribed ‘chemical cosh’ drugs in hospital wards in a ‘scandalous abuse’ of the elderly, ten leading health organisations have said in a letter to The Daily Telegraph.