I am so very sorry to read of your fathers problems with pain meds! I am appalled, this is terrible!!! Obviously there was a major miscommunication with his medications. Im concerned that inattention could cause your father some serious harm. It sounds to me like he was having some type of seizure. I feel so sorry for your father.

If I was caregiver for someone in this position, I would speak to every single staff I was able to and make sure each one completely understands everything about your father. Its not easy being an advocate for someone but you must speak up so this wont happen every again. I think you should immediately talk with supervisors, doctors and every person right up the chain of command. The mistake with meds could have been fatal, make sure it will never happen again. Try to have someone stay with him as much as possible to watch everything going on. If they give you any problem about visiting hours, refer back to the overdose situation and tell them he must have someone to oversee things.

Its not unheard of for a patient to be on the fentanyl patch and still take other meds for breakthru pain. This might not happen every day, maybe only once every couple days the pain would be bad enough to require a little something extra. The patch comes in many different strengths starting at 7.5 mg up to 100mg. With your father having 2 patches on I wouldnt know how much he was on. It could be 30mg or eve 100mg. I suggest you find out exactly what he is being given and keep track of everything. The highest dose I had of the fentayl patch was 150 mg for only about 2 weeks. This type of medication is the strongest pain medicine on the market. It needs to be stepped up when increasing doses and also stepped back down when coming off it.

Years ago we had someone here who would say they had to put "on their nurse hat from hell" and take charge of the situation. This phrase certainly fits what your father experienced, he needs help. Watch him closely, this kind of mistake should never have happened.