Medication refusal, what to do?

My mom is 91 and has been in the nursing home a couple of times in the last two years to rehab a hospital stay and a knee fracture. She also refused her meds. They come at them with a cup of pills and want them to down them all at once. My mom is now very suspicious about any medication they try to shove down her. I wrote a large sign and hung it up in my moms room that if she refused her meds, they were to call me from her room on my call phone and I would talk to her. I would tell her that her regular doctor, that she really likes, wants her to take this medicine and is going to be very upset if she doesn't. That usually does the trick. She is also not allowed to refuse therapy and they call me from her room when she does and I get her to agree to doing it. It is not against the law to put meds in food. My mom sometimes has swallowing issues so it's the swallowing process that is giving her the problem. The pills that can be crushed up, they put in pudding or applesauce. There are no problems with that. The new doctor needs to make an exception and see your mom immediately. You should call the Director of Nursing for the facility and explain the circumstances to her and she can make that happen. Good luck.

We have also tried before to mix her meds in with her milk..but she noticed it because of the different taste (bitter)... So we refrained from doing that..that's why we decided to have "vitamins" as password of her meds. She believes in what we say because we also are showing her we are taking vitamins. We put her meds in the vitamin canister same as the canister of the vitamins we are taking.

My mother who is 76 with depression also refuses to take meds.but me and my two nurses children tell her that please take your vitamins (her meds) to make you healthy and be more healthy because we need this to be heathy. We conditioned her that this is not a medicine but a vitamin...so she takes it. Meaning our password is vitamins not medicine. For if she hears medicine she won't ..but if we say vitamins ..she would.

Thank you emgo. Mom has minimal diabetes that only requires a pill a day. She used to take insulin but reduced her weight which changed her diabetic needs. She has Alzheimer and is also incapacitated by a doctors authority, signed by family members as well in 2011. She is 81 and is relatively healthy otherwise. Myself, I have no power of health, my sister is MPOA. We have discussed this guardianship, as it was brought up in the NH family meeting. NH said it IS ILLEGAL for them to put Meds in her food, therefore guardianship would be necessary. My sister has reread her MPOA papers which states that Mom does not want to be placed in any institution or use artificial forms to keep her alive. Not sure if this includes wellness medication. I don't think she is checking out, but anything is possible, as she is a very strong willed person and will do what she wants. Really I think most of the problem is w/the NH not taking the time to coerce her into taking her meds, as I was able to do so. Just wish she was closer, so I could provide more assistance. Thank you for your input everyone.

Veronica I know! - I asked because I couldn't see it in Wisconsin's posts, hadn't spotted KarenRW's. Chase Farm cleverly infected my aunt with MRSA following her mastectomy, just to add to her overall enjoyment of cancer treatment. This was nine years ago, when it was still something they tried to hush up - when I asked (over the phone, btw - my aunt had decided before she went in that she would not see any visitors, nothing to do with infection, she was just a bit weird) why she had been moved to a side ward the chirpy Staff Nurse told me it was MRSA - this was then indignantly denied by the Ward Sister, and it took another month to winkle the truth out; not that it made any lasting difference to the outcome, sadly. They also gave her yoghurt with thickeners in it in spite of GLUTEN FREE painted in red capitals all over her notes - she had coeliac disease. Chase Farm was my mother's nearest A&E for many years, and on not one occasion did we attend without something nasty happening either to her or to another patient while we were there. Only hospital in the country that's worse than the fictional Holby City - I'm so glad they're closing it down.

Nowadays they swab everybody pre-admission - and touch wood so far we're all right Jack..! Good to give out the heads-up on infection control though, thank you.

Rough on your sister, Wisconsin, but as MPOA she should aim to do what she honestly believes your mother would want to do if she still had capacity. Very hard, especially in cases where there's a conflict between what you believe your mother would have wanted and what you feel is best for her now. You can only give her your best advice and support. Good luck x

You need to do what you need to do.

I, personally, would want my wishes to be accepted. No meds. No meds.

Phewf. I just hope that by the time I'm too old and tired to read a patient information leaflet or check my food for interesting new flavours I'll also be past caring what meds I take. Now where did I leave that living will form..?

I am a vegetarian and the worst thing that I can think of is being fed meat if I become incompetent. When my mil, whom I am guardian of, refuses her meds I put them in her tea or in anyway that I can because her view on end of life was extremely different from mine. What I am attempting to say is that everyone is different and ultimately it is about making the loved one happy.

In my experience, most cares given to those in a facility will have a Dr. order before we do most anything with our residents. (This in response to questioning whether it is legal or not, to put medication in food.) The "rules" may be different state to state, however, the Federal standards usually supersede the state rules. In my facility, we must have a Dr. order for medication administration. In this case, crushing meds and putting in applesauce etc. I think everyone's comments are so important and look forward to more of them. Thank you for sharing.

We need more specifics to adequately answer this question intelligently. A person has a right to refuse meds, however, there are exceptions. Nurse Ferris