Jeff Prager

Review of Ridgeview Medical Center

I can't complain about the professionalism, knowle...

I can't complain about the professionalism, knowledge or care provided by the staff. However, methodology is in desperate need of reevaluation and medication protocols need revision.

Our mother who has had dementia for over 4 years now was sent to Ridgeview by the nursing home she resided in for a geriatric psychiatric evaluation as a result of poor behaviors yelling, disturbing other residents, threats referred to as sundowning because the behaviors occur in the evening generally after 6-7pm.

Atypical antipsychotics are approved for use in patients that suffer from Schizophrenia. That's all. They're prescribed "off label" which is normal for many drugs, to treat dementia patient behaviors.

Eli Lilly, in a peer reviewed report, states that atypical antipsychotics increase the incidence of sudden death in dementia patients by 4-fold. A peer reviewed report by the National Institute of Medicine in Washington DC states that atypical antipsychotics perform no better than placebo. There are 100s of peer reviewed reports on this subject and there are several general themes of interest:

1. atypical antipsychotics should not be used for dementia patients
2. new drugs are desperately needed for dementia patients
3. Delta9 THC shows miraculous effects in clinical trials and various dementia scores are improved dramatically
4. There are over 70 peer reviewed reports on the positive effects of Yokukusan, a traditional Chinese medicine effectively prescribed regularly for dementia patients in both Japan and China

By not going along with the "system" one risks becoming one of 85,000 nursing home evictions that took place in 2015. If this were someone else's Mom the pointless absurdity might be laughable but it's my mother and the illogical foolishness is heartbreaking.

It just is what it is. We eat Trans Fats which have a direct link to sudden heart attacks and neurological disorders, we drink Coca Cola which causes atherosclerosis and Bipolar Disorder (BPA, BPF, BPS and other analogues) and drug senior citizens into stupors because the human race is still, comparatively speaking, in its infancy.

Ridgeview wouldn't even speak with me today regarding the atypical antipsychotics that they prescribed (my Mom's was released from Ridgeview approx. 10 days ago) because the RN stated, "she's not a patient here" yet Ridgeview prescribed the Gabapentin, Risperidone, Lorazepam cocktail that turned her into a zombie, caused her to fall twice in the last 10 days and has her sleeping all day. The Ridgeview RN stated, "she has a history of falling" when in fact, she's fallen 3 times in the last 3 years but twice in the last ten days because she's overmedicated.

Even the doctor that works for the nursing home where she now resides stated "she's over medicated" two days ago and is working on a medication reduction plan. Not soon enough. She fell again today.

So that's my opinion, based on 100s of peer reviewed reports, discussions with my family physician, 4 relatives that are either physicians or surgeons and my personal observations.