WHEN David Ramsay, a former senior consultant at Guy's hospital in London, was diagnosed with dementia in 1998, his wife fought for three years to have him taken into full-time care.
But just months after winning her battle, David's neck twisted by 90 degrees, leaving his chin permanently fixed to his chest and forcing him to spend the rest of his life staring at the ground.
His condition, a rare neurological disorder, was a side-effect of a powerful antipsychotic drug prescribed to control the symptoms of Alzheimer's. According to a parliamentary report, to be published later this month, his case is far from isolated.
The report, by the all party parliamentary group on dementia, has found that elderly people are routinely being prescribed antipsychotic drugs