A LITTLE DIGNITY, PLEASE

A Tennessee Nursing Home Shouldn't Have Drug-Tested All Its Elderly Patients

Growing old, they say, isn't for sissies. Physical problems abound. Mental
capacity, for many, diminishes. Depression and anxiety loom. And, like
Rodney Dangerfield, you sometimes don't get any respect.

Almost 100 elderly patients at the Claiborne County Hospital and Nursing
Home in Tazewell, Tenn., found that out. They're being investigated by the
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the local police.

Why? Because the son of one patient noticed his father was acting
differently. Worried that it might be a medication problem, a doctor
checked the elderly man. The physician ordered a drug screen. It showed the
man had consumed marijuana in some form.

When a second patient showed similar symptoms, the facility's medical
director, a spokesman said Tuesday, decided to test all 98 patients. About
two dozen tests came back positive, although at least one test result is
being disputed.

The issue here isn't legalizing marijuana or looking the other way when a
group of people about to leave these mortal coils decides to party down.
The issue is one of dignity.

The medical director was wrong to issue a blanket test of every patient.
The director should have confined the testing to patients who were
exhibiting behavior inconsistent with their previous actions. And the
director should have consulted family members before ordering the tests.
Just because people are old and in a nursing home is no reason for them to
be subjected to the indignity of drug testing. Just because they can't
physically prevent the drug screening is no reason to force them to do it.

Officials at Claiborne County Hospital and Nursing Home, if they live so
long, may some day find themselves in the position of being defenseless and
relying on the kindness of strangers. Let's hope those strangers afford
them more dignity than the 98 patients at the nursing home received.