Does anyone know whether it is common practice for homes to either ask consent of relatives before putting a resident on new medication, or failing that to at least advise them of it? My mum was in an EMI home for a year and has now been in a nursing home for a year. We have found out accidentally on a couple of occasions that she was on medication that we knew nothing about. In the care home we found out that she was on Epilon, even though we were never told that a diagnosis of epilepsy had been made. She has been unwell for the last few days and it came up in conversation that it was 'nearly time for her sleeping pills'. We didn't know she was on sleeping pills! An after effect of her seizures last week has been that she has been very aggressive, which is extremely unusual for her. My sister visited her today and said that she seemed 'doped up', which would lead me to believe that she may have been prescribed sedation of some description. While I would not necessarily be opposed to this, I would have hoped that myself or my sister would have been asked or advised, given that my mum is not in a position to consent herself.
I'm just wondering whether I'm expecting too much here and wondered what others think and whether anyone else has experienced this.
I'm just wondering whether I'm expecting too much here and wondered what others think and whether anyone else has experienced this.