(Canberra, October 16, 2019) – Many aged care facilities in Australia routinely give older people with dementia dangerous medicines to control their behavior, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 101-page report, “‘Fading Away’: How Aged Care Facilities in Australia Chemically Restrain Older People with Dementia,” found that instead of providing support to older people with dementia, facilities use drugs to control their behavior, a practice known as chemical restraint. Many of the drugs used to control people in aged care facilities are antipsychotics that are not approved in Australia for older people with dementia. In addition to the physical, social, and emotional harm for older people restrained with these drugs, the use of these drugs in older people with dementia is also associated with an increased risk of death.
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