Drugs are widely used to sedate dementia patients. Her sons wanted to keep her off them

Potent sedating medications are often used on agitated people with dementia in long-term care facilities despite federal efforts to discourage them. A clash over whether to drug a Michigan woman illuminates the wrenching decisions families and guardians face.

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/945x668+0+0/resize/945x668!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4d%2F26%2F100e186e49dd8440b8c569a3b811%2Fjan-2025-1.jpg' alt='Potent sedating medications are often used on agitated people with dementia in long-term care facilities despite federal efforts to discourage them. A clash over whether to drug a Michigan woman named Marjorie Tingley illuminates the wrenching decisions families and guardians face.'/><p>Potent sedating medications are often used on agitated people with dementia in long-term care facilities despite federal efforts to discourage them. A clash over whether to drug a Michigan woman illuminates the wrenching decisions families and guardians face.</p><p>(Image credit: David Tingley)</p><img src='https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5980081' />