Can I demand the nursing home to give my Mom a supplement?

Christine if you mother is subject to abuse please notify your States health dept so they can investigate. Photograph anything you can.

Nursing homes do not give anything without a doctor's orders. My aunt was in for rehab for 22 days. They gave her a vitamin and Tylenol, but asked me to bring in her bottle of cranberry pills, which I gave her to prevent UTI's. BTW, they didn't, and shortly after discharge, she developed a bleeding problem. I discontinued most of the Tylenol and the cranberry pills. No more bleeding. But a lot of supplements interact with regular meds. I once heard a natural physician say that if they are strong enough to do good, then they are strong enough to have side effects and interact. My feeling is that when is person is ready for NH care, supplements do not do any good and may do more harm then good. The only type of supplement that may be good is a Boost type supplement if one is not eating properly. At my aunt's NH, a lot of the patients received their Boost shake at mealtime.I would think it would be hard to hide a supply in the room, so you'd have to carry a can in your purse when visiting.

Get a Nutritionist on your side because they know more about healing the body than the Medical Establishment suppressing your Moms recovery.
To clarify and expand on some of the answers here in regards to supplements being a waste of time, On the contrary, other forms of alternative methods for making the elderly healthier should always be encouraged. The USA is a bit behind compared to the rest of the world when it comes to healing the body instead of just removing or alleviating symptoms. Doctors do not get their degrees to cure or reverse illness, they go to get Medical Degrees and learn specific remedies that ONLY stop symptoms, NOT cure or reverse because the curriculum and the courses are not designed to do that. They are designed only to treat body ailments and how to block body systems that cause the pain temporarily. The Medical institutions do not look at the CAUSE of an illness.
Supplements in ADDITION to implementing other systems of healing and alternative strategies, can definitely reverse what looks like Alzheimer’s or Dementia and even alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms. Medically trained doctors will attest to this when their own patience begin to go downhill and then begin to improve after using alternative strategies. Getting more hydration can stop the brain from shrinking and better sleep alone WITHOUT NIGH-TIME WAKING, can reduce dementia like symptoms by 75%. Eliminating UTI without antibiotics and by regularly giving cranberry WITHOUT SUGAR but with RAW honey, and giving probiotics DAILY and a list of other foods like certain fatty acids like coconut oil and fish oil. An example of how delicate the brain is would be the movie "Lorenzo's Oil" with Susan Sarandon. Lorenzo, their sons mind was deteriorating and the parents learned that a fatty acid in seeds and another oil could benefit. Sure enough it did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo%27s_Oil
Food is what fuels the body and makes it work properly. FDA rules disqualify many methods of research which prevents obvious solutions to be considered a valid remedy. We know that water, and a small snack can stop a headache, but we don’t see this as a remedy promoted by anyone on TV. We only see an ad for Tylenol. The USA Is too young of a country to have enough experience at healing disease. We need to learn from cultures that have a more reliable history with healing the body and a track record of what has worked and is still working because these are known healing systems that have been passed down. They can not be proven in double blind studies because no one looking to make a profit will have anything to sell so the studies will not have any investors. Remember, all doctors of modern day have learned from regular people. All that was done is that institutions have created a system of STOPPING or REDUCING symptoms by using ONLY drug and have created course work for students on HOW to administer these drugs. In those institutions, it is NOT profitable to teach a student any curriculum that creates a practice that cures the physician’s patients otherwise there would be no patients coming back into the doctor’s office and no drugs to prescribe. There is no secret here. GO anywhere else in the world in more rural areas and there is no doctor yet the people know how to cure themselves, how to stitch up wounds and also hot to perform cataract surgery. Cataract surgery was learned in India.. same as so many other healing methods that are not taught in the

Hahaha whoever is thinking about putting their relatives in a nursing home I think you should start saving for those funeral and cemetery expenses because they are going to give you a big surprise. Those animals working in nursing homes kill elderly patients. They lie in their records to protect themselves. This is what they do best, not I do not mean taking care of patients who need their attention. I mean this is what they do best in killing them and hiding the truth. They killed a relative of mine and I almost lost a second one. The government protects them and if you think your relative will get the best care there hahahaha you will have to learn the real truth very soon.

If they are in a NH it is considered a skilled nursing facility and as such all aspects of care including medications has to be done by physician's orders. Usually this comes from / comes through the medical director of the NH with the DON (DIrector of Nursing) who places orders and staffing based on what the MD prescribes. SOmetimes the elders prior physician is involved but usually once they go into a NH, their old MD turns over care to the medical director of the NH.

All this is in the admissions agreement. You do not demand that they do xyz for your family member - all that does is cause problems. Once they are in a NH, there is a care plan meeting required to be done on a regular basis by CMS. For my mom in both of her NH, the first one was done within the first 30 days and then every 90 days thereafter. A letter was mailed as to the upcoming CPM and a # to call to set the exact time for the meeting. SOme I went to in person & some were done via CC. The CPM is where you can voice your concerns and request specific things be looked at -everybody front the various departments (dietary, activities, social work, nursing) will be there and will have a short report on your elders status for their department. CPM's are very insightful if you manage it right, and is very much a way to ensure what you want do is put into action. If something in serious, then the DON comes to the CPM otherwise the DON will send the RN who is the floor director or section manager for the unit your family member is in.

There is no reason why you cannot be totally prepared for the CPM with a list of items you want addressed and state why and what you suggest as a solution for them with documentation as to why (like a letter from their old MD that the specific supplements were given under their orders). When the CPM is done (takes under 30 minutes), you will be asked to sign off on having the meeting - at this point in time if you don';t agree then you add in what you want or you put clearly that the report you did and brought to the meeting was delivered and to be added to your elders chart. At my mom's first NH, the last CPM meeting I brought in a pretty scathing report with photos and wrote clearly on the CPM as per attached report and I would not leave the meeting till I got a copy of the CPM that had all the signatures of staff at the meeting. The DON was not happy, but this is totally within my rights as DPOA MPOA - I already had mom set up to move to a new NH later that month, so no blowback.I also filed a Stark complaint on this NH. If you have issues with a facility, you have to clearly document date & time on all this and then do the follow up in letters to CMS and your DHHS or whomever administers Medicaid for your state. All NH are state regulated and that body should also get your letter of concerns. Everything must be in writing with your authority indicated (DPOA, Guardian) and I would send all certified mail with return registered card (the green card @ USPO). Venting on this site is terrific but you have to do the follow up in writing and with a chain of verification to get things done.