Memory Care and medication changes

lostdaughter58

I had to emergently place my Mom in September into a memory care facility after she caught covid. I found out last night that they have changed her medications without notifying me. They now have added Memantine to her schedule as well as Lorazepam. My Mom is very sensitive to medications and has tons of allergies. My Mom did not do well on Aricept and it caused her to be agitated. Because of the agitation and diarrhea it caused her, her neurologist stopped the Aricept. It helped her mood significantly.

I am beyond disgusted that the memory care facility would dope up my Mother without notifying me at all. And why do they feel like they have to sedate her when noone has ever called to discuss any type of behavior issue at all. Every time I ask the staff how my Mom is doing, they say she is doing fine. She is now having chronic diarrhea and her moods are all over the place and she is quite often agitated when I visit. When I told them that she was having diarrhea, the staff said everyone is having diarrhea. I asked the nurse how they monitor for diarrhea, they said "even the most severe Alzheimer's patient will them them about diarrhea."

Does anyone know the obligations of a memory care facility related to the changing of medications and communication of changes to the family? I am her POA for medical and financial decisions. I am considering filing a formal complaint related to this.

M1

Perhaps you could ask for a meeting with the facility director and/or the prescriber-is there an in-house nurse practitioner?

I agree that these things should be discussed and would also be displeased if i were in your shoes. I would want to know whether the Ativan is written to be given as needed (that would be best) and how often she is actually receiving it-although it has a short half life, all benzodiazepenes can increase confusion and fall risk jn the elderly.

As for the memantine, i would just stop it. Chances of it providing any cognitive benefit are low, and yes, you should have been consulted before it was started.

Filing a formal complaint is a two-edged sword. You want to tread carefully here, don't put yourself in a position where they could retaliate by coming up with reasons to evict your mom.

lostdaughter58

Thank you for commenting. I think you make a good point about retaliation. I get frustrated and sometimes want to act without thinking of the long term consequences.

I spoke with the Director of Nursing last night. She was actually upset as well. She was going to have the Nurse Practitioner call me today. Hopefully, we can come to some type of agreement related to expectations.

I do plan to ask to have the Memantine stopped. I see no benefit of it and I do think it is contributing to her symptoms.