Elder Abuse and Neglect in Nursing Home (Canada)

Neglect of Aged an 'Outrage'

By Thomas Walkom,
The Star.comCanada


The Ontario government is helping to break its own laws when it lets nursing homes leave elderly residents lying for hours in urine-soaked diapers, according to a legal opinion prepared for the Ontario Federation of Labour.


"People shouldn't have to end up in these situations. If these were kids in a child-care centre, there would be outrage."Written by Toronto lawyers Mary Cornish and Jo-Anne Pickel, the 29-page brief concludes that most nursing homes in the province violate laws, regulations and binding contractual obligations that require long-term care institutions to keep patients "clean and dry" and "promote their dignity and independence."


They say the so-called 75 per cent rule, whereby a diaper is changed only after it is three-quarters full of urine, contravenes the province's human rights code against discrimination on the basis of age, disability and sex (elderly women suffer from incontinence more than men). And, they say, it may also violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Nursing home administrators who insist that staff leave immobile residents festering in their own urine could also be charged with professional misconduct, they say.


"The government has set standards that the nursing homes aren't following," said Cornish yesterday after a copy of the report was released to the Star. "But the nursing homes can't follow these standards because the government doesn't give them enough money for supplies and staff."


Nursing home staff have long complained that they are liable to discipline if they change diapers too often. In a report two years ago, and distributed to every MPP, the OFL cited one instance where supervisors pulled used, sodden diapers out of the garbage and weighed them to ensure that staff were adhering to the 75 per cent rule.


In another case, nursing home workers received free pizzas if they kept diaper use down.


In their brief, the two lawyers say they were told that families who complain on behalf of incontinent residents usually receive more diapers but that those who try to be agreeable get nothing.



SOURCE: The Star.com

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How many care homes are in this sort of situation?

Is the problem, that of greedy nursing homes owners, or that of staff shortages?

Then again, is the government providing enough funding, incentives and other resources to assist owners of care homes.

The report was published last year. Have things changed?