Our wonderful health care system - NOT!!!
August 12, 1999
Restraints 'torture' for seniors with malady
By MARY-JANE EGAN, Free Press Health Reporter
Southwestern Ontario's tendency to use restraints on chronic care
patients amounts to torture for seniors suffering from a common but
difficult to diagnose disorder called Restless Legs Syndrome, says a
Londoner who has the condition.
"I've already told my doctor, 'If they're going to restrain me, you
shoot me first,' " said Ila Durr, 80, who fired off a letter last week
to Health Minister Elizabeth Witmer last week after news reports that
more than 45 per cent of chronic care patients in the region are
restrained with seat-belts and leather ties to avoid falls.
The provincial average is 30 per cent.
The provincewide study, by the Canadian Institute for Health
Information, will be reviewed by the government, said a spokesperson for
Witmer.
There was no indication in the report why use of restraints in this
region exceeds the Ontario average.
Durr wants more awareness of Restless Legs Syndrome in the medical
community to ensure sufferers aren't placed in restraints.
Restless Legs Syndrome is a motor-skills disorder, the main symptom of
which is an uncontrollable urge to walk.
There's no cure for the disorder, which often worsens with age.
Durr, who was diagnosed last year with the condition, said she now
realizes her mother, Flossie Hotson, had the same ailment.
Hotson, who died several years ago in an Ailsa Craig nursing home, was
constantly restrained and Durr said she now appreciates "this would have
been torture for her."
"When she was restrained, it was like she was caught in a web and the
more she'd thrash, the worse it would get.
"No one knew what the problem was then, but I remember other patients
would be rattling their beds, pleading to be released from those
restraints. It would be unbearable to be restrained with this
condition."
Durr now takes medication that controls the condition at night but said
she still "fidgets" in the daytime and is aware her condition is
worsening.
One of nine children of Flossie and Alec Hotson raised in Ailsa Craig
during the Great Depression, Durr said four of her surviving siblings
have been diagnosed with the syndrome.
One of her own daughters and two grandchildren are also affected.
Durr's 86-year-old sister is in an Oshawa nursing home, where her three
daughters -- all nurses -- have insisted their mother not be restrained.
But Durr said the catch-22 is her sister has suffered cracked ribs from
falling.
"Still, the pain in your legs if you can't move when you have to would
be unthinkable torture," she said.
With the help of her daughter, Durr found information about Restless
Legs Syndrome on the Internet and learned that leading research is based
in Texas and Maryland.
It's estimated the disorder affects 12 million Americans. A 1994 study
found it affects 10 to 15 per cent of Canadians.
Durr said she hopes speaking out will help "people who come after me.
"I don't want sympathy. There are lots of diseases worse than this. But
we need more education about this."
Dr. Stephen Jones, a family physician at West Elgin Community Health
Centre and an instructor at Western's department of family medicine,
said Restless Legs Syndrome is rarely a reason to use patient
restraints.
They are more commonly used for people with dementia or delusional
patients who may try to yank intravenous tubes.
But he said the report "suggests a lot of education needs to be done
among providers."
He said the finding that restraints are more common in rural areas isn't
surprising since smaller facilities have fewer resources and are less
likely to have locked units that allow Alzheimer's patients to wander
without leaving the unit.
"The fact is, even patients with dementia don't like to be restrained.
But rural areas with fewer staff and resources may have to use
restraints more often.
"There are no easy answers."
Copyright © 1999 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media
Corporation.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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