I wholeheartedly agree with you both. What are these qualifications?
Licenses to kill???
My husband is an electrician. If he slipped up and someone died as a
result of his negligence there'll be NO mercy for him..
Take care.
Steph
--- In SSRI-Crusaders%40yahoogroups.com">SSRI-Crusaders
yahoogroups.com, "ccreel_04064"
<catherine_creel...> wrote:
>
> --- In SSRI-Crusaders%40yahoogroups.com">SSRI-Crusadersyahoogroups.com, Nathan and Terry Bearden
> <nandtbearden> wrote:
> >
>; > UNBELIEVABLE! This murderer and his accomplices (nurses and other
> licensed medical professionals at the facility) should have been
> tried for premeditated murder. The story is from 2000, but it's just
> another piece of evidence showing that the pharmaceutical companies
> and their lackeys have been drug pushers for a long, long time
> without facing any repercussions for the many deaths they have
> caused. They face firings, censure, restrictions and other forms of
> getting slapped on the wrist. What are the LEGAL consequences for
> their actions? Nothing. They seem to say, "Carry on...but be more
> careful. Try not to be so obvious when you kill these disposable
> people or we'll have to cut off your Medicaid money." No thought
> about the value of a patient's life. Un-American.
>
>
>
>
> > Paragraphs 1 & 2 read: "Barbara Beninato spent her last days at
> St. Francis Care psychiatric hospital groggy, disorganized and
> falling asleep even as she ate."
> >
> > Little wonder. She was on a daily regimen of 12 different
> medications. On New Year's Day, Beninato was slurring her speech and
> staggering about the Lane Ameen Unit of the hospital, formerly known
> as Elmcrest. But no assessment was made of her physical condition --
> one of a series of missteps that led to the woman's death that day."
> >
> > Last paragraph reads: "At the time of Barbara Beninato's death, a
> state investigator found, she was prescribed the following
> medications by a St. Francis Care psychiatrist: Neurontin: 800 mg,
> three times daily ,: Ambien: 10 mg, at bedtime as needed, Methadone:
> 50 mg daily . Xanax, 0.5 mg, three times daily , Vistaril, 50 mg,
> three times daily, Mellaril, 50 mg, four times daily , Cogentin, 0.5
> mg twice daily , Flexaril, 10 mg, three times daily , Paxil, 60 mg
> at bedtime, Zyprexa, 25 mg total, in divided doses daily, Thorazine,
> 75 mg, as needed, every eight hours, Ryna Liquid, 10 ml, every eight
> hours for cough >>
>
>
>
>
> ** Terry, what is really frightening here is that this is not an
> isolated incident and we don't have to go back to the year 2000 to
> find examples like this. I just finished spending 3 weeks collecting
> data from Health Canada's and the CDC's adverse events databases.
> Many of the deaths found in these databases had a list of drugs like
> this associated with them. You'll also find lists of drugs given
> like this in nursing homes, community residences for those labeled as
> having "chronic mental illnesses", and very young children.
>
>
> IMO, we are long overdue to stop regarding what doctors do as
> something God-like, mysterious, and beyond our understanding and
> begin regarding them for what they really are -- unwitting schills of
> the pharmaceutical industry. Those who are not intelligentenoughto
> recognize that drug cocktails lead to nothing but diaster should be
> stripped of their privileges to practice medicine. Let's face it,
> one does not have to have a degree in medicine to see the problems
> inherent in prescribing in this way. People left to their own
> devices, would cause less harm than so-called "educated" medical
> doctors.
>
>
> When will we begin prosecuting these idiots as the criminals they
> actually are?
>;
> Regards,
> Catherine
>
>
> __________________________________________________________
> ___________________________
> > DRUGGED AND ALONE, PATIENT LOST HER LIFE
>; > The Hartford Courant
> > April 18, 2000
>; > Author: DWIGHT F. BLINT; Courant Staff Writer
> > Estimated printed pages: 5
> >
> >
> > Barbara Beninato spent her last days at St. Francis Care
> psychiatric hospital groggy, disorganized and falling asleep even as
> she ate.
>; >
> > Little wonder. She was on a daily regimen of 12 different
> medications. On New Year's Day, Beninato was slurring her speech and
> staggering about the Lane Ameen Unit of the hospital, formerly known
> as Elmcrest. But no assessment was made of her physical condition --
> one of a series of missteps that led to the woman's death that day.
>; >
> > Instead, the 30-year-old Bozrah woman was placed on a four-hour
> room restriction, commonly known as seclusion. She was checked once
> by hospital staff, at 5 p.m., and was thought to be sleeping.
> >
> > When the staff checked again, more than two hours later, Beninato
> was barely breathing. She would be pronounced dead soon afterward,
> the victim of acute mixed drug intoxication.
> >
> > In response, federal regulators said Monday they have taken the
> extreme step of placing the hospital on a ``termination track'' that
> will result in the loss of Medicare and Medicaid funding unless
> significant reforms are made by June 7.
> >
> > ``You had people missing everything,'' said Margaret Leoni, a
> branch chief for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
> whose agency has cited the hospital for what she described as ``very
> serious and substantial'' violations.
> >
> > Although state regulators have yet to take any public action in the
> case, the federal agency has cited hospital staff for failing to
> develop an adequate treatment plan for Beninato, and for failing to
> properly monitor her condition.
> >
> > ``I wouldn't call it abuse, but a lot of [it] bordered on
> neglect,'' Leoni said Monday. ``It was very serious -- not to
> mention, the poor woman died.''
> >
> > *
> >
> > Barbara Beninato had problems. She was admitted to the hospital
> Nov. 21 after state police found her driving up the wrong side of a
> highway ramp while sniffing gasoline and smoking. Court records show
> her family felt compelled to seek restraining orders against her last
> year.
> >
> > Among Beninato's problems was ``med-seeking behavior,'' according
> to the preliminary state report that describes her last days and
> hours. Along with a variety of psychological disorders, Beninato had
> a history of substance abuse.
> >
> > So when a St. Francis psychiatrist discussed cutting back on
> medications, Beninato threatened to ``go off on her.'' Instead, by
> ``self-reporting'' symptoms, Beninato persuaded the psychiatrist to
> increase the number and dosage of her medications.
> >
> > Hospital records, the state report found, did not provide
> justification for the increased dosages.
> >
> > The drugs given to Beninato are common. They are described as
> tranquilizers, anti-anxiety agents and muscle relaxers used to modify
> behavior.
> >
> > Mary McCormick, administrative director of the Connecticut Poison
> Control Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center, said
> last week that she would have been concerned about the quantity and
> dosages given Beninato.
> >
> > McCormick said she would need to know more about the patient, but
> that her instinct would be to reduce some of the medications.
> >
> > ``I can't tell you that this combination would imply death,'' said
> McCormick, whose expertise is in pharmaceutical sciences. ``But
> several of these medications would cause sedation, so I would be
> concerned about over-sedation.
> >
> > ``But that could have been the effect they were looking for.''
> >
> > *
> >
> > Hospital staff missed crucial opportunities to intervene that New
> Year's Day. When Beninato was checked at 5 p.m. -- about two hours
> after being placed on room restriction -- the nurse did not try to
> awaken her for dinner or administer her usual allotment of
> medications.
> >
> > This, the state investigation found, should have raised a red flag.
> Beninato had never before slept through dinner, and had never missed
> her medications.
> >
> > Yet no assessment would be done for another two hours and 20
> minutes -- when Beninato's life was very nearly over.
> >
> > By 7:20 p.m., when Beninato was checked again, she had ``slowing
> respiration.'' By 7:25, she had no pulse or blood pressure. By then,
> CPR did no good.
> >
> > The incident raises questions as to whether the hospital followed
> new state laws regarding seclusion. The law requires patients in
> seclusion to be checked frequently.
> >
> > Staff may also have failed to adhere to the hospital's own policy.
> Typically, hospital policy calls for patients in seclusion to be
> checked at least every 15 minutes.
> >
> > Beninato's death is the first in Connecticut related to restraint
> or seclusion since the high-profile death of 11-year-old Andrew
> McClain at this same institution two years ago.
>; >
> > McClain's death prompted the state to place the St. Francis
> facility under a one-year consent decree, and prodded federal
> officials to enact regulations governing the use of restraint and
> seclusion.
> >
> > *
> >
> > Peter Mobilia, a spokesman for St. Francis, declined comment.
> >
> > The hospital did acknowledge last month that it was cited in
> connection with Beninato's death. At the time, St. Francis announced
> that it had fired two top-ranking hospital administrators, made other
> administrative changes and submitted a plan of correction to the
> state.
> >
> > State Department of Public Health officials have refused to discuss
> the case thus far, and have turned down The Courant's requests for a
> copy of the citation, the state investigative report and other
> related documents. The state's investigative report was provided to
> The Courant by federal regulators.
> >
> > William Gerrish, a public health department spokesman, said the
> case is still being investigated and his agency cannot discuss the
> matter while it is pending.
> >
> > But documents provided by the Department of Health and Human
> Services indicate that the state has filed a complaint against an
> unidentified member of the hospital staff. The state could also seek
> yet another consent decree against St. Francis.
> >
> > The hospital might face more pressure from the federal government.
> >
> > If the hospital does not comply with federal guidelines by the June
> 7 deadline, the Department of Health and Human Services will cut
> Medicare funding to the facility and withhold matching dollars to the
> state for Medicaid patients.
> >
> > Such a decision, involving so much money, could effectively close
> the hospital.
> >
> > James McGaughey, the executive director of the state patient
> advocate's office, said he is pleased the federal goverment is taking
> Beninato's death seriously.
> >
> > ``My concern is, given the mixture of medications, what information
> was given to [Beninato] or any surrogates about taking so many
> medications at the same time,'' McGaughey said.
> >
> > But McGaughey, whose office is charged with investigating
> violations of patient rights, said he's concerned by the lack of
> information from the state Department of Public Health. He said his
> office has received only limited information from the state.
> >
> > ``At this point we're sending [the Department of Public Health] a
> letter,'' he said. ``We want to know what they've got.''
> >
> > Overall, McGaughey said, he's concerned that the state's
> psychiatric environment overemphasizes the use of medication -- while
