Abuse Hard to Verify If Injured Can't Speak (NC. USA)

Daughter's outrage over bruises met with denial; employee suspended

BY THOMAS GOLDSMITH - STAFF WRITER

Jun. 03, 2009

Doris Weaver got extremely upset when she walked into the WakeMed emergency department and saw the dark bruises on her 88-year-old mother's face.

Weaver immediately demanded to know what caused the injury to her mother, a long-time resident of a Raleigh nursing home, but she's still awaiting answers.

"She had a bruise from her temple all the way down to her lower earlobe," said Weaver, 55. "Her eye was black and was swollen."

 Early on a Monday, May 18, Weaver's mother, Della Jarrett, was taken from Sunnybrook Healthcare and Rehabilitation in Raleigh to the hospital for a gastric problem, Weaver learned in a phone call from the home. No one said anything about an injury to her mother's face that occurred two days earlier.

Jarrett has for years been unable to walk or even roll over because of advancing dementia, Weaver said, making it unlikely the older woman could have injured herself in a fall. She thinks her mother is a victim of abuse and has filed a complaint with the Raleigh Police Department.

Sunnybrook officials have suspended an unidentified employee but deny any abuse occurred. Under state law, abuse includes both the willful infliction of physical pain or injury and the willful deprivation of services by a caretaker.

Like hundreds of other older and disabled North Carolinians who are injured each year, Jarrett is unable to tell her own story.

"You have these elderly and fragile adults who cannot communicate," said Gail Holden, director of senior and adult services for Wake County.

The family's situation illustrates the difficulty of tracking down the facts, let alone assigning responsibility, when older people get hurt and are unable to tell what happened to them.

Sharon Wilder, the state ombudsman for long-term care, says the reports of abuse, neglect and exploitation are on the increase and will likely continue to rise. In part, that's because the number of people older than 60 in the state will increase to nearly 2.9 million by 2030, an 87 percent increase. But it's also because their children are less likely to accept a facility or caregiver's lack of explanation for injuries or neglect.

Only about 15 percent of abuse happens in long-term care settings, state officials say, with the rest occurring in private homes and reported by neighbors, friends or social workers.

Abridged

SOURCE:    News & Observer - Raleigh,NC,USA

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