Patients suffer unnecessary pain in Venray dementia center

A doctor at an institution for people suffering from dementia in Venray adjusted or even stopped his patients' medicines without consulting with their families. This led to these patients becoming agitated, aggressive or suffering unnecessary pain, the AD reports. Complaints and reports by family members about medical misconduct and a doctor's misbehavior has led to an investigation at the elderly department of mental health institution Vincent van Gogh. This department treats elderly people suffering from dementia in combination with severe behavioral problems. According to the newspaper, the geriatrician altered or stopped patients' medication without consulting with the patients' families. This led to the patients suffering unnecessary pain and their health deteriorating sharply in a short amount of time. In two cases patients became so agitated that they had to be tied to their beds. This was against the express wishes of their families, who were only informed about it days later. The families told AD anonymously that there is a culture of fear in the department. The doctor in question does not share information, does not want to know about the family members' experiences regarding medication and brooks no contradictions. He is very intimidating and many patients and families therefore do not dare to file a complaint or take other steps. Jolande Tijhuis, chairman of Vincent van Gogh, stated that they are taking these accounts very seriously and have called in an external agency to do a wide-spread investigation into the situation in the department. "Every complaint is one too many. We do our best every day for all patients and their families and it is very annoying if we seem to succeed insufficiently in some cases. I have a responsibility both to clients and employees to get the facts on the table. We will take action if necessary." Tijhuis said.