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Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network

Human Rights Defenders

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1

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Antipsychotics and Long Term Care 1

Drugging for Chemical Restraint Common

Right now, every day almost one out of every 4 residents in long term care are given anti psychotic drugs.  These drugs reduce life expectancy. These psychiatric drugs have a black box warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration that these drugs are dangerous to patients with dementia.  Patients with dementia are much more likely to be drugged.

Antipsychotic drugs cause misery as well as death. They have powerful mind-altering properties that can cause agitation, anxiety, confusion, disorientation and many other side effects. Too often, these drugs dull resident’s memories, sap their personalities and crush their spirits.

Antipsychotic drugs are used in nursing homes use to sedate and control residents and as a substitute for needed care and adequate staffing. Drug companies heavily promote misuse of these drugs through illegal marketing campaigns directed at doctors and nursing homes. Absentee doctors often rubber stamp drug orders requested by nursing home staff. Resident or family consent is rarely sought and almost never truly informed. State licensing officials are part of the problem due to poor enforcement of laws against drugging.

 

Antipsychotics and Long Term Care 2

Increasing use of Anti-Psychotics.

There is an alarming increase in the use of psychiatric drugs over the past decade, with one in five adults in the USA now taking at least one psychiatric drug such as antidepressants, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety medications.  In a 2011 Wall Street Journal article, reporter Shirley Wang reports there has been increased in the use of powerful antipsychotic drugs across all ages.  Overall use of psychiatric medications among adults grew 22% from 2001 to 2010.  Medco Health Solutions Inc., a pharmacy-benefit manager's reported psychiatric medications are among the most widely prescribed and biggest-selling class of drugs in the U.S.  IMS Health reports in 2010, Americans spent $16.1 billion on antipsychotics to treat depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, $11.6 billion on antidepressants and $7.2 billion on treatment for ADHD.

Antipsychotics and Long Term Care 3

Antipsychotics and Long Term Care 4

Avoiding Restraints for Elderly

Chemical Restraint

Stop the Drugging

http://www.canhr.org/stop-drugging/

The goal of the campaign is to stop nursing homes and doctors from misusing dangerous antipsychotic drugs and other types of psychoactive drugs to chemically restrain residents and to replace drugging with individualized care. Through education, advocacy and political action, we seek to bring Californians together to end this harmful practice.

Minimize Chemical Restraints

Psychiatry Coercion as Cure

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
 
― Leo Buscaglia

Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network

MEDICAL WHISTLEBLOWER ADVOCACY NETWORK

P.O. 42700 

Washington, DC 20015

MedicalWhistleblowers (at) gmail.com

CONTACT

"Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself."  Confucius

If You Need Help

National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy

Phoenix Rising Therapy

Suicide Prevention   (800) 273-TALK

Vietnam Veterans of America, Crisis Phone Number. Special Notice: If you are a veteran in emotional crisis and need help RIGHT NOW, call this toll-free number 1-800-273-8255 available 24/7, and tell them you are a veteran. All calls are confidential. http://www.vva.org/.

Veterans’ Crisis Intervention Hotline: 1-888-899-9377. A Crisis Intervention Hotline has been established by the VA Heartland Network to assist veterans who may be dealing with a mental health crisis or difficult issue in their lives. The hotline will also aid family members or friends of veterans who need help in assisting a veteran in crisis.

On line Therapy

National Center for PTSD

International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (ICSPP)

The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights - Attorney Jim Gottstein

Mind Freedom

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

SMART

International Survivors Action Committee

Fighting International Child Abuse Network

Mind Freedom

The Road Back — How To Get Off Psychiatric Drugs Safely

Soteria House — Alternative & Non Drug Solutions for people diagnosed schizophrenic

Plato, Not Prozac — Applying Philosophy to Every Day Problems, Lou Marinoff, Professor of Philosophy University of New York

DrugFreeChildren.org — Informational Website on Issues Surrounding the Use of “Chemical Restraints” on Children

AbleChild — Parents for A Label and Drug Free Education

European Network of (ex) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry

Safe Harbor includes links to find medical doctors (by zip code) who can assist with helping people safely get off of psychiatric drugs and medical personnel who will treat people without the use of psychiatric drugs.

Institute for Progressive Medicine — Conventional and Complementary Therapies

Whitaker Wellness Institute — Health Care for a Longer, More Active Life with a focus on elderly care

The American College for the Advancement of Medicine — A Non-Profit Medical Society Dedicated to Improving Complimentary and Alternative Medicine

MedlinePlus — Information on Drugs, Supplements and Herbal Information

Medwatch — The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program

 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt- Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910