If you’ve ever cared for an older parent or grandparent with health issues, you probably understand why it’s a bad idea to give seniors medications that can impair their thinking or balance. Yet consider this alarming fact: 1 in 15 older adults who need emergency care end up with prescriptions that are potentially inappropriate for their age.

That’s according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, which analyzed data from more than 16 million emergency department visits between January 2023 and May 2025. The researchers found that more than a million of those visits — about 6.5 percent — led to a prescription for a medication that older adults should generally avoid.

This is a sign that medical practice is not keeping up with professional guidelines. More than two decades ago, the American Geriatrics Society developed a tool to help clinicians identify these potentially unsafe medications. Many drugs included in this Beers Criteria carry more risk than benefit and should be avoided in favor of safer alternatives.

The study identified three such drugs, which account for the vast majority of high-risk prescriptions dispensed to seniors in emergency departments. Two of them, methocarbamol and cyclobenzaprine (sold under the brand names Robaxin and Flexeril, respectively), are muscle relaxants often given........

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