Chemical Restraints

The Militant had an article about recent reports have found a growing use of sedatives in nursing homes to compensate for the challenges that understaffing brings. One study goes as far as to estimate that 1 in 4 nursing home residents are medicated with sedatives.

Many facilities have grown to falsely label residents as “schizophrenic” to allow staff to administer more sedatives. In fact, while less than 1% of the population has schizophrenia, a study in 2022 of 99 nursing homes found that 20% of the residents were named “schizophrenic.” Worse, one skilled nursing facility in Mississippi listed 39% of its residents as “schizophrenic.”

This is not a new issue and can be traced back to 1975 when a U.S. Senate subcommittee reported that facility abuse of sedatives was a way to “keep residents docile and easy to manage,” as MarketWatch July 11 wrote. Further, in 2015, regulations were relaxed so employees no longer had to report the administration of antipsychotic drugs to residents diagnosed with schizophrenia (with the term “diagnosed” being used lightly.)

This is a result of corporate executives being unwilling to spend the extra money needed to appropriately staff facilities. To compensate, sedatives are nonconsensual given to residents to keep them quiet and make them easier to care for. Despite the massive profits that nursing homes generate, the employees they do staff are overworked and underpaid, to say the least. In fact, according to federal data, half of all nursing home employees are recorded to quit every year.

One can only wonder how great care could be if only owners allowed them to be properly staffed.