Inspector highlights psych drug use among elderly

Government inspectors say the Medicare health plan must take new measures to stop doctors from prescribing powerful psychiatric drugs to nursing home patients with dementia, an unapproved use that can cause fatal side effects.

Antipsychotic drugs are designed to control hallucinations and delusions in people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. But the drugs are also given to hundreds of thousands of elderly nursing home patients in the U.S. to pacify aggressive behavior related to dementia. The practice has continued despite multiple safety warnings from drug regulators.

An inspector for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will tell Senators today that the government's Medicare program should begin penalizing nursing homes that inappropriately prescribe antipsychotics, according to written testimony obtained by the Associated Press.

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