Mom has both narcotic and non-narcotic prescription medication and I fill her weekly pill dispenser and stop by almost every day. The Director is convinced she falls because of the pain meds. Mom has some memory problems and bad balance and uses a walker. When I was out of town for a week, Mom fell again and the Director searched Mom's room and locked up all of her meds, forcing her to quit cold turkey, without medical supervision. She didn't tell the AL nurse, me, or Mom's doctor. I didn't find out until Mom called me in pain. I have tried turning over Mom's meds to the AL to distribute so there is no question of over-medicating on pain pills, but don't trust them now. The Director would find some fault with the Rx (e.g. doctor said "1-2 pills every X hours as needed" and AL can't have an option; Rx has to say "1 pill ever X hours", etc.), so the Director would pull the pills off the cart and lock them in her office so Mom couldn't get any pills. Again the Director didn't call me and say "there is a problem with the Rx, it needs to be written differently." Instead I find out from Mom when she is in pain that the pain pills have been locked up again. What can I do to improve communication with the Director (who won't return my calls) and make sure Mom gets her medication as prescribed?
That being said, it was small, petty and probably illegal for the director to refuse your mother her medicine. It sounds like you are saying this isn't even the first time she's done this? I do believe I'd report this facility to the proper authorities. There's no excuse good enough. I'd look for another facility for my mom.
On the following Monday, I had a meeting with the staff regarding her care plan, and they said they were increasing her from 1 care point to 11 care points a month ($1100) because they were going to take over dispensing all her drugs (with my blessing) for 4 care points, 2 points because Mom was "verbally abusive," 1 point because she used a walker (which they knew when she first moved in), and more. I felt it was in retaliation for my complaining and gave notice I would be moving Mom as soon as possible.
On top of that, I found out from the med techs that sometime after the Friday meeting, the AL Director added 19 narcotic pains pills to the med cart that she apparently had locked in her office since the Thanksgiving debacle. (I don't know how many pills were taken from Mom's room at Thanksgiving and don't understand why any were not locked in to the med cart.) I stormed over and asked the Director why, and she said "I was monitoring how many your mother was using and restocked the cart when I thought it needed." I told her I thought that was inappropriate and was going to file a complaint with the State Department of Health. I wonder if she took any of Mom's pain meds?
I found a new AL facility that seems to be a much happier place, and moved Mom the day after Christmas. Wishing you all the best in 2015. Thank you for listening and caring.
See All Answers