Christmas shame as families abandon elderly relatives in Victoria
By Carly Crawford
Herald Sun
December 08, 2008
ELDERLY Victorians are being dumped in hospital emergency departments as their relatives go on holidays.
Frontline hospital staff have lifted the lid on the shocking practice of "granny dumping", saying it is on the increase and peaks over the Christmas period. There are calls for an urgent inquiry as worried emergency department workers warn the practice is robbing genuine patients of vital beds. Last Monday, a woman in her 70s was delivered by ambulance to the Northern Hospital's emergency department, where her relatives requested she stay for three weeks. The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine's Dr David Eddey said the ageing population was fuelling a rise in granny dumping.
"When people go away on holidays, it happens," he said. "The number of elderly patients being dumped at emergency departments because their relatives just don't know what else to do would be significant."
One emergency department employee said December signalled the start of the "granny dumping season".
Abridged
SOURCE: The Herald Sun
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