Despite these potentially dangerous side effects, the pharmacist responsible for reviewing the prescriptions of the woman, a resident in a California nursing home, told state investigators that he had not noted these irregularities or addressed them in the patient’s chart.
Pharmacists responsible for reviewing the medication of patients in California nursing homes routinely allowed inappropriate and potentially lethal prescriptions of antipsychotic medications, and failed to correct other potentially dangerous drug irregularities, according to recent state investigations.
In reports obtained by The Bay Citizen, the department found that in 18 of the 32 investigations conducted in California nursing homes between May 2010 and June 2011, pharmacists failed to red-flag cases in which residents were inappropriately prescribed powerful antipsychotic medications like Seroquel, a drug used to treat schizophrenia. Pharmacists also overlooked or approved cases in which medications were prescribed at questionable levels or in unsafe combinations that could put patients at risk of seizures, accidents or even death, according to the public health department.
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