No Charges Laid For Abusive Staff

     CTV reported earlier this month about a disturbing case in at a Peterborough facility where a woman in her 80’s suffering from Alzheimer’s was neglected and abused by the staff charged with taking care of her. Her son had placed a hidden camera inside of his mother’s room, and recording instances of one staff wiping their nose on the bed sheets, while another staff aggressively handled the mother, and even went so far as to wave a feces covered towel by her face.  While four staff members implicated in the videos were fired from the facility, police and the crown attorney have declined to arrest or charge the perpetrators, outraging the family of the abused woman. 

     This incident brings up several broader implications and questions about the way we view or treat elders.  One could argue that this sets a disturbing precedent as people who were recorded and caught committing elder abuse were not charged.  An elder abuse expert interviewed by reporters went so far as to claim that if this case had involved a child, or a younger person, than the four staff members would have been almost certainly charged.  This raises an interesting point, as to whether or not society views elder abuse as not as serious a concern as other forms of abuse.  You can find the report at http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/it-s-despicable-son-reacts-after-told-no-charges-laid-in-mistreatment-of-mother-1.1442579 .