Without seeing mom or her medical records, they immediately (first day) discontinued her aricept and namenda. Their reasoning is that those meds don't help and they're "psych meds." This is complete insanity. I'm her health care proxy. Can I make them give her the meds? If so, how?
No, this doesn't mean that you can decide what medications she can and can't be on while in a nursing home.
If you don't agree with the nursing home putting your mom on or taking her off medications talk to the Director of Nursing.
Medicare and Medicaid regulations address the use of drugs or medications to treat clearly identified medical conditions in the nursing home. Possibly the most important concern is the overuse or administration of unnecessary drugs. The problem is addressed by regulation §483.25(l) Unnecessary Drugs as follows.
1. General: Each resident’s drug regimen must be free from unnecessary drugs. An unnecessary drug is any drug when used:
(i) In excessive dose including duplicate therapy; or
(ii) For excessive duration; or
(iii) Without adequate monitoring; or
(iv) Without adequate indications for its use; or
(v) In the presence of adverse consequences which indicate the dose should be reduced
or discontinued; or
(vi) Any combinations of the reasons above.
2. Antipsychotic Drugs: Based on a comprehensive assessment of a resident, the facility must ensure that:
(i) Residents who have not used antipsychotic drugs are not given these drugs unless antipsychotic drug therapy is necessary to treat a specific condition as diagnosed and documented in the clinical record; and
(ii) Residents who use antipsychotic drugs receive gradual dose reductions, and behavioral interventions, unless clinically contraindicated, in an effort to discontinue these drugs.