first question | choose another case | Epharnet
Mrs. R.P. at 73 years of age lives alone. Due to a pension from the previous post office employer she can afford a modest standard of living.She enjoys good health and is absolutely independent. The only medicine she has used for a long time is one tablet of lorazepam (2.5 mg) in the evening. She believes to fall asleep at certain hour very important and she has not found any other more suitable remedy than benzodiazepine. Recently she has decided to reduce the dose to l mg. Her doctor prescribed her the reduced dose of the medicament with pleasure. Two days later Mrs. R.P. fell down and broke her right wrist. She had to be hospitalized but wished to come back home as fast as possible. Two days after her hospitalization Mrs. R.P. began to complain that she couldn't sleep and that she suffered from terrible imaginations about death. Therefore she was prescribed propoxyphene and paracetamol. The hospital staff do not like somnolent patients of older age for fear of their confused behaviour.Therefore they also decided it was better to keep the old lady in the waking state, without treatment. The following day Mrs. R.P. began to behave strangely. She cried without reason, refused food, wasn't able to find her room. The following day paroxysmal seizures appeared.