SACRAMENTO
Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry introduces legislation to address ‘chemical restraint’ use in nursing homes
Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) announced this week the introduction of AB 1809, legislation to stem the practice of “chemically restraining” nursing home residents in California.
Some nursing homes in the United States, including California, routinely give antipsychotic drugs to residents with dementia to control their behavior, despite rules against the misuse of such drugs as “chemical restraints.” These chemical restraints are being prescribed to sedate and subdue residents, who often use behavior to communicate their pain, discomfort, or distress.
According to a 2018 report by Human Rights Watch, this abusive practice has become more widespread. Based on their researchers’ visits to more than 100 nursing facilities in six states and more than 300 interviews with people living in facilities, their families, staff, long-term care and disability experts, government officials and advocates, Human Rights Watch’s report “’They Want Docile’: How Nursing Homes in the United States Overmedicate People with Dementia” estimates that every week in U.S. nursing facilities, more than 179,000 people, mostly those older and living with dementia, are given antipsychotic drugs without an appropriate diagnosis. Facilities administer these drugs in many cases without obtaining informed consent from residents or their families.
Antipsychotic drugs were developed to treat psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires manufacturers to label them with the strongest “black box” warning about the risks they pose to people with dementia. The FDA has never approved antipsychotic drugs as safe and effective for treatment of dementia symptoms. Studies find that antipsychotic drugs nearly double the risk of death in older people with dementia. When the drugs are administered without informed consent, patients and their families are not making the choice to take such a risk.
“There are approved uses for antipsychotic drugs. Using them on people with dementia because staff want to control a patient who is deemed ‘unruly’ is just plain wrong,” said Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters). “The use of such drugs as a ‘chemical restraint’ invokes visions of the middle ages. This practice violates federal and state regulations and can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under international human rights law. And, what’s worse, the staff and facilities engaging in this inappropriate practice are rarely punished. It’s time we stopped this abusive treatment of our family members.”
Tony Chicotel, Senior Staff Attorney for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) stated, “Despite a decade of laudable efforts to reduce the misuse of psychotropic drugs in nursing homes, the rates have risen during the pandemic, wiping out nearly all of our state’s progress. Requiring written informed consent is a back-to-the-basics approach to the over drugging problem that ensures residents or their representatives have control over drugging decisions after consultation with their health care professionals.”
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LAKE COUNTY
Yurok Tribe works to return Condors to Northern California
Special guest Tiana Williams-Claussen will talk about reintroducing California condors to their historical Northern California and Pacific Northwest range at Redbud Audubon’s Zoom program on Thursday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m.
The Yurok Tribe in Northern California has been preparing over 14 years to bring condors, this nation’s largest bird, home to a historic part of its range after a century-long absence. Not only will this restore an apex species into the region’s ecological systems, but it will promote the Yurok Tribe’s reconnection to this amazing creature that is sacred to the tribe and has great cultural importance.
Tiana Williams-Claussen, Director of the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department, will briefly introduce the incredible Prey-go-neesh — the California Condor — and describe the traditions guiding the Yurok Tribe’s efforts to bring condors back to the Tribal Ancestral Territory. She will explain the tribe’s step-by-step progress over 14 years to develop collaborative partnerships with the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Ventana Wildlife Society, multiple zoos, and local hunters. With the necessary facilities construction nearing completion, the tribe hopes to release the first four condors this spring. In closing her talk, she will describe the Yurok Tribe’s approach for reintegrating condors once they are released.
Tiana Williams-Claussen is a Yurok Tribal member from the village of Wehl-kwew and was raised in Yurok Ancestral Territory. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University, after which she returned to serve her tribe. She was instrumental in the formation of the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department in 2008 and currently serves as Department Director.
Her native upbringing and formal education combine to allow her to bridge the gap between Yurok traditional understandings of the world and those rooted in Western science. She is working toward a cohesive, well-informed approach to holistic ecosystem management.
To register for this fascinating presentation, go to www.redbudaudubon.org and click on the Registration Link on the home page of the website. The link to join the presentation will be sent to you the day of the program. In order to secure your spot, please register by Wednesday, Feb. 16.
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