Information and Insight for Injured Iowans

It can be very difficult to take care of the elderly.   Often they are fragile and have complicated medical needs and equally complicated medications.  Many are prone to falling and susceptible to serious injury or even death if they fall.   In fact, one of the leading reasons many families make the difficult choice to have a loved one place into a nursing home is because the elderly person has started falling coupled with the belief (and sales pitch) that the nursing home will help prevent falls from occurring.    And then when the falls start happening and you ask what can be done - time and time again as my clients tell me – the nursing home response is that they are “restraint free”.  

Baloney.  No nursing home that accepts Medicare (most do) is restraint free – if they accept residents that need some type of restraint then the nursing home is required by law to be  restraint appropriate and inform a Doctor and secure an order for the right restraint.  

No, restraints should not be used willy-nilly or for staff convenience but when they are necessary to meet the needs of the resident they are required.   Keep in mind there is a huge variety of “restraints” that are not the cruel, leather tie-downs you might be imagining.   Basically anything that restricts the movement of a nursing home resident is, in most circumstances, going to be considered a restraint under the law.   This means a comfortable Lazy boy in the reclined position can be a restraint, pushing a locked wheelchair up to a dining table or using a wedge cushion to prevent a resident from sliding out of a chair are restraints…etc.

Our elderly should not be subjected to death by fall because a nursing home refuses to do its job and follow the law.   Restraints should be used sparingly, correctly, and in the least restrictive manner possible but sometimes they need to be used.  Perhaps they would be less necessary if nursing homes were adequately staffed with properly trained workers but until the system changes stand up for your loved ones and require that they be safely seated – even if this requires the creative use of some form of restraint.